Strings Attached
by hannnarivers
Summary: Over the last few years, Hanna and Caleb have become accustomed to being friends. But when a difficult situation forces them to feign romance and dynamics start to change, will something unexpected come of their friendship? Semi-AU, rated T/M.
1. Chapter One

**Basically, the idea for this semi-AU made its way into my head and I couldn't get it out, so I really had no choice but to write it out in fic form. For the sake of this story, Toby is the same age as the girls and Caleb, but I guess you'll figure that out from reading the first chapter anyway. I'm pretty excited about this story and I think you guys will like it too (hopefully), so without further ado, enjoy chapter one!**

* * *

Chapter One

* * *

"Now who is _that_?" Questioned Hanna Marin with a smirk, shuffling onto the seat next to her friend Spencer Hastings at their usual lunch table.

" _That_ ," Spencer sighed as she studied the photo on her phone screen, "Is the guy my parents are trying to set me up with. His name is Angus - he likes hunting, playing world-class tennis, and spending summers lounging at his parents' country club."

Hanna stuck her bottom lip out and raised her eyebrows, nodding in mock approval, "Nice."

Spencer's parents were always very disapproving of anyone who was, well, less than perfect, and so she was always being persuaded to go out with a son of a friend who owned a lot of things worth a lot of money, or someone along those lines at least.

"What's nice?"

Hanna spun her head to find their friends, Caleb Rivers and Toby Cavanaugh, approaching from the other side of the cafeteria. Caleb took the seat next to hers, and shot her a questioning look as he clumsily shoved his tray of fries onto the table in front of him.

"Spencer's new boy-toy," Hanna replied with a giggle, "He's-"

"He's not my 'boy-toy'," Spencer interjected, "My parents would love for that to be the case, though."

"Ah," Caleb nodded in understanding, "So I'm taking it they still don't know about you two then?" He turned to look at Toby before focusing his attention back on Spencer.

Spencer made eye contact with Toby briefly, running her fingers through her hair in annoyance as he replied with nothing but a shrug. "Nope, and we're still not ready to tell them, so no spilling please. Understood?"

"What are we understanding?"

Spencer huffed as Aria Montgomery, Emily Fields, and Alison DiLaurentis all took their usual places at the lunch table. "I am so not telling the story again."

"Toby is Spencer's boy-toy, but Spencer's parents want Angus to be Spencer's boy-toy. Oh, and Angus' parents own a country club," Hanna summarised, smiling smugly as all her friends seemed to immediately understand her explanation.

"Anyway," Spencer clapped her hands twice, "Let's turn change the subject from the dictatorship that is my parents and focus on something more interesting."

"Like Han's stalker?" Joked Alison, as Hanna shot her a look. Her 'stalker' was in fact her ex-boyfriend Sean, who still hadn't quite become accustomed to the 'ex' part of 'ex-boyfriend'.

"He's still bothering you?" Caleb enquired, sounding genuinely concerned.

Hanna made a waving motion with her hand, as if to signify that she wasn't affected by it at all. "It's no big deal," She tried to assure her friends, "He just won't stop texting me and it's getting kinda annoying."

To tell the truth, it was getting much more than just 'kinda annoying' – he was near enough threatening her at this point, but she didn't want to worry anyone by telling them that.

"You sure?" Asked Aria gently, reaching across the table to place a hand on Hanna's arm.

"Mhm," Hanna assured her, nodding furiously, "I'm sure."

Caleb reached to the side, placing his on Hanna's arm next to Aria's, "Good, because if not, me and Toby are gonna have no problem beating him up for you. Right?"

"Right," Toby affirmed, as he began to beat his chest with his fists. "We strong alpha males, we kill Sean," He grunted, eliciting giggles from all the girls aside from Spencer, who just raised her eyebrows at him.

"Oh, well _now_ I feel safe," Hanna joked, slumping back into her seat before sticking her hand out to steal two of Caleb's fries.

* * *

The rest of the school day passed by pretty quickly, and at 3 o'clock, as per usual, Hanna found herself waiting by Caleb's locker. He was currently living in a rented apartment just around the corner from the street that she lived on, and so the two of them had taken to walking home together almost every afternoon; Hanna had decided that this was now one of her favourite parts of the day. She and Caleb had been good friends for more than three years now, but ever since the start of senior year they'd gotten a lot closer, and she loved it. He had become someone outside of the girls that she could confide in, and honestly, sometimes it was a lot easier to tell him stuff than it was to tell anyone else - she just felt comfortable around him.

"Guess who."

Hanna jumped forward and hit her arm on the locker door beside her as Caleb's voice came from behind, breaking her out of her little reverie. "Ouch!" She whipped around to face him with a stern glare on her face, before her lips formed a small frown and her voice became quiet, "That hurt me."

Caleb's gleeful expression turned a little more sympathetic – although he still looked pretty smug – as he put his arm around Hanna's shoulder, bringing her body into his.

"I'm sorry Han Han," He mocked in his best baby voice, reaching his hand up to tousle her long blonde curls as they started walking out of the building, "Didn't mean to scare you."

Hanna laughed as she pushed his arm off of her shoulder, "You're an ass."

"That I may be, but I'm an ass who got you something that you might be very interested in."

She suddenly perked up at that, "Like what?"

Caleb simply shrugged his shoulders and fastened his walking pace, making sure that he strode way ahead of Hanna so that she was left trailing behind him.

"Caleb!" She was almost running to keep up with him by this point, "What did you get?!"

He stopped in his tracks and turned around to face Hanna, who now had a big grin spread across her face despite the fact that she was a little out of breath.

"Am I still an ass?" He asked, one eyebrow raised.

"Yes," She confirmed.

Caleb began to turn away again as a smile crept upon his face, but he was stopped when Hanna reached out to grab one of his tanned arms. "However," She began, "You're an ass who also happens to be one of my best friends, and that therefore negates the ass-ness of your personality."

He let out a short laugh at that. "I was just about to compliment you on your use of the word negates, but then you used the word ass-ness in the same sentence so…"

Hanna stomped her feet in discontentment, "Caleb! I just complimented you!"

Amidst her tiny tantrum, Caleb reached into his pocket and pulled out a small white envelope, handing it to the girl in front of him as she immediately stopped sulking and an embarrassed expression crept onto her face.

"Can I open it?" She enquired, her voice small but hopeful.

Caleb rolled his eyes, a grin plastered across his cheeks, "Obviously."

Hanna let out a little shriek of happiness as she ripped the envelope open, throwing her arms around Caleb without hesitation when she realised what was inside. Nestled between two sheets of pink tissue paper were two tickets to see Coldplay, one of Hanna's favourite bands of all time. They were touring around the US later that year, and so she'd been continuously hinting at her friends to come and see them with her – she'd thought they'd all been completely ignoring her, but clearly Caleb was an exception.

"Thank you so so so much," She beamed, pulling back from the hug to look at his face, "I totally take back the whole ass thing now."

"Thought you might," He chuckled, "Glad you like them."

"Of course I like them! You know how much I wanted to go."

"Oh, and you can take whoever you want with the other ticket," Caleb added, smiling genuinely at her.

Hanna rolled her eyes at that. "Of course I'm taking you, idiot," She laughed, linking her arm with his and looking down at the tickets as they started walking again. "May eleventh. I'm gonna set up a countdown on my phone."

* * *

"He actually bought you tickets?"

"Yup," Hanna practically beamed down the phone to Emily, "For May, and we're going together."

"Wow, looks like I'm gonna have to step up my best friend game if I don't want Caleb to steal you away from me," Giggled Emily, only half joking.

Hanna laughed along until she heard a _ping_ , signalling the fact that a text had just come through on her phone. "Hold on a second, just checking my messages."

She opened the text up to find that it was exactly who she'd been hoping it wasn't – Sean. A wave of nausea coursed through her body as she registered his name and reluctantly read the words on the screen to herself.

 _Hanna, I'm coming over to your house tonight. I know your mom is away so don't try and get out of this one, we haven't been alone together in so long. I miss you._

She narrowed her eyes in disgust at that. 'I miss you'? Wasn't he the one that broke up with her, after telling practically the whole school that she was a 'dirty slut' and had cheated on him, when in fact the truth was the complete opposite?

"Ugh," She grunted, bringing the phone back to her ear.

"Sean?" Asked Emily, already knowing the answer to her question.

"Yep, just Sean being gross and obnoxious as usual."

Emily's voice was full of concern, "What did he say?"

"Oh you know, just that he wants to come over tonight because he knows that we'll be alone," She paused, "I'm kinda scared, Em."

A gentle sigh came from the other side of the phone, "Want me to come over later?"

"No, no!" Hanna shot back immediately, "He's just a jerk, I can handle him."

Truth be told, she really did want Emily to come over that night, but she didn't want Sean to have any sort of control over her life, and that included her being afraid of him. He had never been violent towards her while they were together, but he had a hot temper that almost nobody else knew about, and sometimes it made Hanna think that things could swing that way if it came down to it.

"You sure?"

"I'm sure." Hanna didn't know who she was trying to convince – Emily, or herself.

"Okay then, call me later and tell me if he actually shows up?" Emily asked gently.

Hanna smiled to herself at her friend's concern. "Sure, speak later," She agreed, before hanging up and throwing her phone down onto her bed, from which it bounced back and landed with a definitive thud on the floor. "Great."

She didn't even bother to pick up the phone before she flopped down onto her plush double duvet, squeezing her eyes shut as she tried to alleviate the pain that had suddenly become apparent in her head. A noise identical to the one she had heard earlier, only this time slightly muffled, made its way across the room as she sighed. Well, she knew who that would be.

Not wanting to delay the inevitable, Hanna pushed herself up and off of the bed, crouching down to find that her phone was completely unharmed, other than a couple of small scratches on one corner. _Ping_. There was the noise again.

"Yeah, I get it!" She huffed, punching her passcode in before Sean's new messages flashed up on the screen.

 _I'm at the door._

 _Come let me in._

Hanna felt her heart begin to beat a little faster as she frantically tried to think of a reply that would get her out of seeing him.

 _I'm not home. I'm at Aria's house, sorry._

His reply was instantaneous.

 _No you're not, your bedroom light is on and I can see your shadow behind your curtains. Don't lie to me Hanna._

Hanna brought her hand up to her now sweaty forehead and began to pace back and forth across the expanse of her bedroom – she really had no choice but to let him in now. Creeping down the stairs as slowly and silently as she could, she made an attempt to even her breathing out before reluctantly opening the front door.

As soon as his face registered hers, Sean pushed past Hanna into the house, and stood with his hands on his hips, an almost furious look on his face.

"Why didn't you want me here, huh?" He questioned, tapping his foot as he waited expectantly for a response.

Hanna pushed the door shut as she took a step towards him, "I-"

"No wait, don't answer that," He interrupted her, "You're acting like you don't even know me, or- or like you're afraid of me or something."

She didn't quite know what to say to that.

Sean's eyes widened. "Well?!"

"Well what do you expect from me, Sean?" Hanna began, the annoyance that she was feeling finally beginning to come through in her voice, "You break up with me, lie to just about everyone in school about why we broke up, and then demand that I let you into my house? It's not ok." Tears of self-pity began to well in her eyes as she shook her head sadly.

The furious look on Sean's face faded rapidly and was replaced by a mocking smile, accompanied by the continuous shrugging of his shoulders as he began to laugh loudly. "Come on Hanna, we all know I did you a favour," He jeered at her.

This time it was Hanna's eyes that went wide. "A favour?!"

"Everybody was forgetting who you were, you were fading into the background, you needed someone to bring you back into the spotlight. That's exactly what I did - everybody knows your name now!"

"Yeah," Hanna was really beginning to get mad, "And they all think it's Hanna slut-who-cheated-on-her-super-duper-perfect-boyfriend Marin! You did me no favours, Sean."

Sean sighed, as if Hanna was some great burden on his otherwise perfect life. "Fine then, you know what? I'll tell them all that it wasn't true, it was just some stupid rumour that I heard from one of the guys."

Hanna nodded her head once, "Great, get out of my house and go do that," She demanded, signalling towards the door with her hand.

"Woah woah woah," Sean began, his derisory chuckle returning as he shook his head, "It's not gonna be that easy, I want something in return."

She sighed to herself at that – he really was like a five-year-old. "What do you want?" She threw back at him.

"You."

His answer was so short and simple that it stunned her, yet still managed to make her feel queasy at the same time. There was no way she was getting back together with Sean, not after what he'd done to her. She was one hundred percent sure that she didn't even like him anymore, anyway.

"No way," She shot back immediately, "Absolutely no way."

Sean threw his hands up in the air and huffed, "And why not?"

 _Crap_. _Think Hanna, think_.

Thirty seconds passed and she still stood staring at Sean, her mouth slightly agape as she desperately tried to think of something, anything to say. He took a step towards her, and at their close proximity, the next words that she spoke unwittingly flew out of her mouth.

"Because I have a boyfriend."

Sean raised his eyebrows, "Really?" He asked smugly, clearly trying to hide his shock at her answer.

Hanna nodded furiously.

"And who would that be?"

 _Shit. Shit shit shit. Just say someone's name, quick._

"That would be Caleb Rivers."

* * *

Hanna wiped a stray tear from her reddened cheek as she dialled Caleb's number, pushing her phone up against her ear and snivelling in an attempt to hold back from crying any more. She anxiously chewed one of her fingernails as she waited for him to pick up, if he was even going to pick up at midnight, that is.

When Sean had finally left, Hanna had called Emily in tears, and they'd both come to the conclusion that the best thing to do was tell Caleb about the situation. Which was pretty much exactly what Hanna didn't want to have to do.

After three rings, Caleb picked up and Hanna heard his hoarse voice come down the line. "Hanna, are yo-"

Caleb's question was cut short as Hanna cut him off, ending the call and burying her phone under her pillow. She'd definitely just woken him up. "I can't do this," She whined to herself, throwing her head into her hands.

 _Ping_.

Her stomach instinctively lurched at the sound of her text tone, but she immediately relaxed when she realised that it almost certainly wouldn't be Sean messaging her this time. Still using one hand to hold her head, she blindly reached out with the other to grab her phone from under the pillow, forcing herself to pry one eye open and take a peek at the screen. A deep sigh of relief left her mouth as she registered Caleb's name, and finally opened his message.

 _Han, did you just cut me off? Everything okay? xx_

Hanna smiled to herself at his concern, and maybe a little at the two kisses that he only ever used when he was texting her – she might even have checked his messages with Emily and Spencer, just to make sure that this was the case. She bit her lip thoughtfully as she tried to come up with a reply.

 _Sorta, but not really. I mean, I'm okay, but I've done something stupid xx_

 _How stupid, on a scale from one to ten? One being not stupid at all, ten being, say… crying because the store was out of strawberry twizzlers? xx_

Hanna brought her hand up to her mouth as she snorted with laughter.

 _Hey! That was a hard time for me ok, I hadn't slept the night before because of the royal wedding and my emotions got the better of me xx_

She imagined Caleb smiling at her response, before realising that she hadn't actually answered his question.

 _And about an eight, by the way xx_

Maybe she was just being overdramatic – Caleb might think it was more of a five.

 _So, no murder involved? xx_

He needed to stop making her laugh when she was actually trying to tell him something.

 _Definitely no murder on my part, but I might have heightened my chances of being murdered by Sean xx_

 _Is he with you now?_

Hanna could tell Caleb was getting worried by the way that his kisses had disappeared from his texts.

 _No, but he was here earlier xx_

She wanted to come clean and tell Caleb so that he could stop worrying about whatever he was clearly assuming had happened to her – she just couldn't help but feel nervous about his reaction, for some reason. It was a good five minutes before Caleb's next reply came through.

 _I'm on my way over now xx_

A wave of guilt washed over Hanna.

 _No no no Caleb, you don't need to come over! I'm fine honestly, I'm just being dumb xx_

She ran a hand through her hair and huffed to herself – why was she making such a big deal out of this? She'd probably worried Caleb now, for no reason at all. And he was making a special journey at almost one o'clock in the morning just to see her. Hanna didn't know why, but the thought of him doing so made her feel warm inside.

Caleb's next reply never arrived, just as Hanna had expected would be the case. He was ignoring her request to stay put, and undoubtedly making the short journey over to the Marin residence.

A loud knock startled Hanna and she jumped slightly at the noise, but unlike earlier, she wasn't dreading the journey downstairs to open the door. Her nerves about telling Caleb seemed to have fizzled out, and were replaced by a giddy sense of anticipation as she practically flew down to the ground floor. She fumbled with the lock for a quick moment before flinging the door open, and looking up to see Caleb's eyes staring back at her.

"Hey," She grinned at him, "You didn't have to-"

"I wanted to," He interrupted, stepping forward and pulling her into a warm hug. "I was worried."

Hanna allowed herself a small smile. "There's nothing to be worried about, I promise," She mumbled against his chest.

Caleb pulled away from the hug slowly, holding Hanna out at arms length by her elbows. He raised an eyebrow in disbelief, "Really?"

"Really," She confirmed.

"Then why did you text me to tell me that you'd done something stupid?"

"Because I did," Hanna pursed her lips, "I did do something stupid."

Caleb sighed, running a hand through his hair as he relinquished his hold on Hanna, "Care to tell me what it is?"

"At least come and in close the door first," She joked, as Caleb smiled sweetly and reached behind himself to push the door to. "You want a drink?"

"Now you're just trying to stall," Caleb laughed, "Hanna Marin, what – did – you – do?" He punctuated each of his words by poking her stomach lightly, sending her into a fit of giggles as she ran into the kitchen and picked up an empty carton of milk – the first thing she saw – in a weak attempt to defend herself.

Following close behind her, Caleb raised an eyebrow at her weapon of choice as they both came to a standstill. "A milk carton, really?"

Hanna looked down at the object in her hands, registering the milk carton properly for the first time.

"What are you gonna do with that?" He mocked.

"Shut up, ass," She grinned back at him, throwing the carton into the trash before pulling a stool out and taking a seat. "Sit."

Caleb did as she had requested and took a seat next to her, clearing his throat before he spoke. "So tell me, what could the great Hanna Marin have possibly done for her actions to be worthy of the label 'stupid'?"

"Oh," Hanna spoke quietly, "You're about to find out just how stupid they were."

Caleb smirked, "Enlighten me."

She took a deep breath in and out, before clapping her hands together as she began her story. "Ok, so you know that Sean's been bothering me again lately, asking to come over and stuff?"

Caleb nodded.

"And you know why we broke up?"

Caleb nodded again, though this time it was accompanied by an eye roll – clearly a display of his disapproval of Sean's childlike actions.

Hanna began to speak faster as her nerves got the better of her, "Well tonight he came over, and we argued, and he said that he would tell everyone that what he said was a lie as long as…"

"As long as what?"

"As long as I agreed to be his girlfriend again."

Caleb barked out a laugh at that, "You said no, didn't you?" His expression turned stoic when she didn't reply for a moment, "Hanna, tell me you said no."

Hanna waved her hands out in front over her, "No no, don't worry, I definitely said no."

Caleb nodded in understanding. "Ok, so then what was the stupid thing that you did?"

"Well, the stupid thing is kinda how I got out of the previously mentioned situation."

When she recieved no reply other than another nod, she took it as her cue to go on.

"I told him that I have a boyfriend."

Caleb looked confused at her response. "And he didn't ask you who he was?"

He was gonna be mad at her. She could feel it. "Oh yeah, he asked me alright."

"And you don't think he's gonna find out that you were lying when he asks the guy and he has no recollection of the two of you dating?"

"Well that's the thing," Hanna bit her lip, feeling very anxious all of a sudden, "I was kinda hoping that that wouldn't be the case… that maybe the guy would lie for me."

Caleb sighed as he shook his head, "And who is the lucky guy that will be graced with such an honour?"

 _Here we go._

"It's you."

* * *

 **So there we go, first chapter done! I hope it was alright – I know it wasn't super Haleb-ish, but I needed to introduce all the characters and the situation. The next chapter is gonna be adorable, though. Your thoughts and comments, both good and bad, are always welcomed and appreciated!**


	2. Chapter Two

**Twenty-one reviews on the first chapter? I definitely wasn't expecting that, thank you so much! Moving onto PLL, I was actually really pleasantly surprised by 7x01 – I thought Ash's acting was amazing, and Caleb was SO worried about Hanna throughout the whole episode. I love life. Also, a little bit of shameless self-promotion: if you want to, you can follow me on twitter. My username is hannnarivers and I always tweet if I post a new chapter, in the midst of my other tweets which are basically all just me crying over Haleb/Ashley/Tyler. Anyway, I hope you guys like this chapter as much as you seemed to like the first, enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter Two

* * *

"Me? You told him that _I'm_ your boyfriend?"

Hanna pressed her lips into a thin line and nodded twice.

A deep sigh emanated from Caleb as he pushed a hand through his hair. "You're crazy," He laughed, not unkindly, "He knows we've been friends for years, Han, he's not gonna believe that we're dating."

While Hanna knew in her heart that this was true, she couldn't help the nagging urge that she had to fight her case and prove herself right. "Well he seemed to believe it when I told him," She shot back, her voice hopeful.

Caleb raised his eyebrows, "He did?"

"Uh," Hanna scratched her forehead, "Maybe not one hundred percent, but we could totally convince him."

"Convince him?"

Hanna nodded once, "Convince him."

Caleb's face fell – he stopped smirking and raised an eyebrow in curiosity, "How?"

Was he really going to make her say it? "If we, you know," Hanna fumbled nervously, looking down as she played with her fingers, "Acted like a couple."

Too scared to look up and face Caleb's reaction, she kept her head down and waited for him to say something. When ten seconds later she still hadn't heard a reply, she assumed that his answer was no. But then her ears registered the sound of a small laugh, and she slowly raised her head to find Caleb smirking at her, his eyes glistening with what she could only describe as mischief.

"What?" She questioned, her voice small.

Caleb cleared his throat, his smirk never fading, "You want me not only to _say_ that I'm your boyfriend, but also to _act_ like your boyfriend whenever Sean's around?"

"Yes," Hanna confirmed, "And his friends."

"Sean's circle of friends basically extends to the entire school, Han."

Hanna knew how ridiculous she was being – of course she couldn't ask Caleb to do this for her. "You know what," She waved her hands around in front of herself as she stood up and started to walk away, "Doesn't matter, I'm being dumb, I-"

"Ok."

Hanna stopped in her tracks, "Ok?" She whipped her head around to face Caleb, "Did you just say ok?"

Caleb grinned at her; he looked cute when his eyes crinkled like that. "It might be one of the most ridiculous things I've done in a while but yeah, I did."

The disbelieving expression on Hanna's face vanished and was replaced with one of unadulterated glee as she retraced her steps, all but running into Caleb's back as she wrapped her arms around him from behind. "Thank you thank you thank you thank you," She repeated in his ear, relief clearly evident in her voice, "You're already the best fake boyfriend ever."

He chuckled and rolled his eyes at that, "Now _there's_ something that every guy wants to hear."

"No seriously," Hanna pulled away from him and turned his stool so that they were facing each other, "Thank you so much, I owe you big time. Whatever you want, name it."

Caleb pretended to think for a second, "Yeah, I'm gonna need to ask you to give me those concert tickets back now." He couldn't even finish the sentence before his face broke out into a wide grin.

Hanna gasped in mock offence and slapped his arm lightly, "No way, they were a present, and you can't ask for presents back once you've given them away. They're mine now."

"Then I guess we'll be going as fake boyfriend and girlfriend," he sighed, feigning resignation before he wiggled his eyebrows, eliciting a giggle from Hanna.

"I guess we will."

As their smiles faded and the room fell silent, Hanna found herself staring into Caleb's eyes. Her gaze fell down to his nose, his lips, and then quickly back up as she noticed out of the corner of her eye that his eyebrows were knotted, either in thought or confusion. "What?" She asked quietly, finally breaking herself out of her little daze.

"How are we gonna, you know," Caleb scratched his forehead – this was the first time that she'd seen him nervous that night. "How are we gonna know what to do?"

"What do you mean?" Asked Hanna, genuinely curious as to what he was getting at.

"When we pretend to be together," Caleb replied, a little more confidently this time, "How are we gonna know how to act?"

Hanna let out a loud laugh before covering her mouth with her hand, "I'm sorry but-"

"Han I'm serious!" Caleb interjected, "Like, do we need to practise?"

Her shoulders began to shake as she tried to cover up her laughter, "Practise what?!"

Caleb furrowed his eyebrows in annoyance – why wasn't she taking him seriously? "You know what, never mind." He threw his hands up in the air in resignation as he pushed himself up and off of his stool.

Hanna reacted straight away by placing her hands on his shoulders to stop him from leaving, immediately feeling guilty for laughing at his question. "I'm sorry ok, I'm sorry for laughing," She apologised, gently, "What were you saying?"

"You'll just laugh again," Caleb huffed in response.

"I promise I won't."

"Ok," He began, "Won't Sean realise that we've never like, done any of this stuff before? Won't he be able to tell?"

Hanna's nose crinkled in confusion, "Stuff? Like what?"

Caleb shuffled his feet awkwardly, looking down at the ground as he spoke, "Kissing."

"Kissing?" Hanna retorted, Caleb's head shooting up at her reply.

"Well yeah," He started, "I mean, he's gonna expect us to kiss and stuff when we're together, right?"

Hanna stood in silence, taking a second to mull things over. She hadn't really thought about the fact that they'd probably have to kiss, and to be honest, she didn't totally know how she felt about it. "Right," She eventually agreed, "I guess I just never really thought about that."

"Yeah," Caleb nodded, "So you never actually answered my question."

"About practising?"

"Mhm."

Hanna allowed herself a small, yet obviously nervous smile, "I mean, I don't think we need to practise… we've both kissed people before, we already know how it works, don't we?"

Caleb nodded in response, and Hanna couldn't help but notice that his face seemed to drop a little at her answer. "Yeah, totally. I don't know why I'm being so stupid about this," He mumbled, his cheeks reddening a little, "Nobody practises kissing before they do it."

An uncomfortable silence filled the room for a second before Hanna cleared her throat. "So, I guess I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Yeah," Caleb copied Hanna in clearing his throat, "See you tomorrow." He gave her a slight smile before turning on his heel and walking towards the front entrance.

Hanna stayed put until she heard the door slam, and then slumped back onto a stool, resting her elbows on the kitchen island and her head in her hands. At the time, she couldn't seem to place the emotions that she was feeling; nervousness? Regret? _Guilt_? But as she lay in bed that night, Hanna realised that heavy feeling in her heart after their unfinished conversation was disappointment. She just couldn't quite figure out why.

* * *

The following morning, Hanna found herself sitting with her phone in one hand as she swirled a spoon around her bowl of coco puffs with the other, debating whether or not she should text Caleb. The two often walked to school together – much like they walked home – but the uneasy feeling that consumed her after their conversation the previous night had left her wondering whether or not he would turn up at her door that morning. Eventually giving in, she threw her spoon down onto the counter and began to type out a message.

 _Hey, you feel like walking to school together this morning? It's totally cool if not, I get it xx_

For the first time ever, Hanna hesitated before she pressed the 'x' button twice at the end of her message. This was stupid – why, all of a sudden, did a gesture which used to feel so natural now feel so, _loaded_?

"Why wouldn't I want to walk with you?"

Hanna's head shot up as she registered a confused looking Caleb leaning against the side entrance to her house. She smiled as her gaze met his, "I knew I should've shut that door, you never know what kind of scruff could come walking into the house unannounced."

Caleb shot her a grin, "So now I'm scruff?"

"You sure are asking a lot of questions today," Hanna joked, holding the box of coco puffs out to him as an offering.

He shook his head, pulling up the stool next to her and taking a seat as he pushed his phone into his pocket. "Well you're not answering any of them," He retorted, before repeating his earlier question, "Why wouldn't I want to walk to school with you?"

Hanna was beginning to feel a little embarrassed at her previous paranoia. "No reason," She smiled, "Just making sure that you weren't getting bored of me."

"Well you don't have to worry about that, I'm not getting bored of you any time soon."

Hanna felt her stomach flip at his words; he could be so sweet when he wanted to, which lately seemed to be ninety-nine percent of the time. "Good to hear," She almost whispered, the corners of her mouth curving upwards.

Caleb returned her smile, reaching a hand out to rest on one of hers. Hanna's eyes shot down to look at their joined hands, but before she could make sense of what was happening, he was patting her wrist and pushing himself up off of his stool. "Come on, we're gonna be late."

When Hanna didn't follow him towards the door, Caleb made his way back over, placing a hand on her shoulder. "You ok?" He asked, sounding genuinely concerned.

Breaking out of her reverie, Hanna shook her head, "No," She paused, "I mean yeah, I'm fine. Nothing's wrong, let's go."

The two left the house together, smiles on their faces and arms interlinked as they started the twenty-minute walk to Rosewood High. Despite Hanna's previous reservations about the effect that their little 'plan' was going to have on their friendship, the journey was as easy as it usually was, conversation flowing with almost no effort from either side.

At some point throughout the walk, amidst Hanna's rant about something that she'd seen on the TV the previous night, Caleb's mind began to wander. His attention was still wholly focused on the girl beside him, but inadvertently on her features rather than her words; the cute crinkle of her nose as she laughed, the excited glint in her blue eyes when she talked about something she loved, the soft pink hue of her bottom lip a she held it between her teeth, awaiting his reply. _Wait, what had she just asked him?_

"Huh?" Caleb asked clumsily, furrowing his brow.

Hanna giggled, "I said, don't you think pashminas look kinda weird on people our age?"

Caleb could conclude that he well and truly had no idea what she was talking about. "Yeah, sure," He tried, desperately attempting to think of a response to her question that wouldn't leave him feeling embarrassed, "Heels always look better."

"What are you talking about?!" Hanna chuckled, "Do you even know what a pashmina is?"

Caleb's lips stretched out into a reluctant smile, "Ok you caught me," He held his hands up in defeat, "No idea."

The two laughed together as they reached the stone steps at the front of their school, clambering up to the door before they both stopped abruptly. A few feet away from Hanna's locker, standing with his hands in his pockets, was Sean. Just perfect. The reality of the situation suddenly dawned on Hanna, and she couldn't help it as a wave of nausea coursed through her body.

Seemingly sensing her unease, Caleb slid his hand down to grip hers, intertwining their fingers. "Let's do this," He encouraged, giving her a small smile as he squeezed her hand gently.

"Let's do this," She agreed.

The 'couple' walked towards Sean hand in hand, both purposefully avoiding his gaze. They made it to Hanna's locker without being disturbed, and Caleb released his hold on her as she twisted and turned her lock to the right combination. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Sean break away from his group of friends as he strode in their direction.

Caleb spoke quickly out of the side of his mouth, "Han, he's coming."

Taking a shaky breath in, Hanna flipped her hair over one shoulder and turned to face Sean, a wide – albeit fake – grin plastered across her face. "Sean!" She enthused, "Hey!"

A little taken aback by her enthusiasm, Sean raised an eyebrow at his ex-girlfriend. "Hey Hanna," He looked towards Caleb with a smug smirk tugging at his lips, "Caleb."

Caleb rolled his eyes and pushed Hanna's locker to, taking her hand in his once again as he gently tugged at her arm. "Come on Han, let's go."

Before he could so much as take a step in the opposite direction, Sean reached out and placed a firm hand on Caleb's shoulder. "Not so fast, new guy," He jeered, "I was hoping to hear all about this little relationship that you two have got going on."

Caleb huffed in annoyance, but allowed him to speak.

"So tell me," Sean continued, though his questions were clearly unwelcome, "How did this happen?"

"It's none of your business, Sean," Hanna interjected, sharply.

"Wow, you're pretty guarded about your relationship," Sean mocked, eyebrows raised, "Something to hide?"

"No," She shot back, looking to Caleb for guidance.

Caleb pursed his lips as he looked down at her, before turning his attention to Sean. "If anything, we have the opposite of 'something to hide'." He cleared his throat as his eyes met Hanna's once again and he raised his hand, gently tilting her chin up with his index finger.

Hanna furrowed her brow in confusion before she realised what he was doing, and felt her heart begin to beat furiously in anticipation of what was about to happen. Yet again, she was completely unsure of how to feel; she was about to kiss her best friend of three and a half years, and while one side of her brain seemed to be telling her that it was a decision that she'd regret, the other side was overwhelmingly curious about what it would be like to feel his lips upon hers.

Letting the curious side triumph over the other, Hanna met Caleb's gaze and gave him a tiny nod to signify that she was ok with what they were about to do. Almost painfully slowly, she watched as his face began to edge closer, his eyes frantically searching hers for any signs of uncertainty. With neither one of them backing out and a gap of only a few centimetres separating them from the experience of their first kiss, both Hanna and Caleb fluttered their eyes shut and closed the remaining space between them.

Their lips pressed together softly in a gentle, lingering kiss, and Hanna couldn't help but feel almost cathartic as the simple interaction filled her stomach with excited butterflies. She found herself being left somewhat disappointed when, after five seconds, Caleb pulled back and their brief contact was lost. As the two separated and Hanna's eyes gradually opened, she inadvertently let a sigh slip from between her lips, her face turning a bright shade of red as soon as she realised what she'd done.

The corner of Caleb's mouth turned up as noticed Hanna's blushing cheeks, not at all minding her seemingly positive, albeit accidental reaction to their previous interaction. Both breathed heavily and found it impossible to tear their gazes from each other, until an obnoxiously loud cough made its way through the air, of course originating from Sean. Hanna swallowed nervously and cleared her throat, as Caleb took a step backward, scratching his head with one hand.

"Alright, I get it," Sean rolled his eyes, "I don't need a live performance."

Hanna acknowledged Caleb for the first time since their kiss, taking his hand in hers once again. "It was just a kiss, Sean," She retorted, although it definitely felt like more than 'just a kiss' to her. She silently scolded herself for thinking like that – Caleb had agreed to do this as a favour to her, she had to remember that there was no meaning behind his actions besides his loyalty to their friendship. Little did she know, that for the rest of the school day, Caleb was berating himself for the exact same reason.

* * *

"Em, I'm starting to think that this was a bad idea." Hanna gnawed away at her nails, pressing her phone to her ear with one shoulder.

"Don't be stupid Han," Emily reasoned, "Nothing's going to change between the two of you, you're just being paranoid."

"Did you just call me stupid _and_ paranoid in the same sentence?" Hanna shot back, slightly offended.

Emily sighed. "You know what I mean," She laughed, "Caleb's one of your best friends, if you're unsure about anything then just talk to him!"

Hanna took a second to think, "Mhm." Her phone vibrated against her ear before falling to her bed as she jumped slightly. "Hold on Em," She demanded, pressing the phone back to her ear, "Someone else is trying to call."

Holding her cell out in front of her, she registered Caleb's name and her lips instinctively stretched out into a smile. "Gotta go Em, it's him, I'll call you back later."

Before Emily could respond, Hanna had accepted Caleb's call, effectively cutting her other friend off. "Hey!" She beamed down the phone.

"Hello to you too," Came Caleb's reply, "Somebody's feeling upbeat this evening."

Hanna found herself blushing in response to his comment – mostly because, in her heart, she knew that her bright attitude was thanks to the boy that she was currently in conversation with. "I've just had a good day, that's all."

"I was gonna ask how you thought this morning went, you know, in front of Sean," Caleb began, "But from your tone of voice I'm taking it that you weren't too displeased?"

"Is it bad that I kinda liked it?" Hanna asked, tentatively.

"Being around Sean?" Caleb sounded totally confused.

"Uh," She paused, "No, not the Sean part."

There was a short silence before Caleb cleared his throat, "The kiss?"

"Yeah."

Her feelings about their earlier actions had been bugging her all day, and she desperately needed to find out if he was just as confused as she was. Her only fear was that she was crossing a line, going too far, talking about something which had never even entered Caleb's mind until she brought it up.

Much to Hanna's relief, he responded with a chuckle, "I hope not, 'cause I kinda did too."

She smiled down the phone at his answer, "Really?"

"Yeah." Hanna could practically hear him grinning back at her.

"It doesn't have to mean anything though, right?" She rambled, suddenly becoming a little uncomfortable with the direction in which the conversation was heading, "I mean, maybe it's just because we're both really amazing kissers."

"I have had five different girls say that to me before, so," Caleb quipped, sounding cocky.

Hanna giggled, "Five?"

"Yeah," He shot back, offended by her scepticism, "The last four girls that I dated, and then you."

"Ok first off," She laughed, "You've only ever dated two girls, and secondly, I never specifically said that you were amazing."

"You said that we're both amazing kissers, I think that encompasses me."

Hanna paused for effect, "Hmm, we'll see."

"We'll see?" He shot back, clearly amused.

"I mean we're probably gonna have to kiss again, aren't we?" She asked, maybe a little hopeful that his answer would be yes.

"I guess so." He definitely didn't sound too disappointed.

Hanna smiled to herself, "Well, I'll just have to judge your skills when that day comes."

"I'll look forward to it."

A long, pregnant paused filled the air on both sides of the line. Did he just say that he was looking forward to, _kissing her?_

"Me too," Hanna dared to agree.

The pause returned, for longer this time. She started to panic. What was she doing? _He's your best friend,_ she told herself, _stop flirting with him._ But the more she thought about it, the more she realised that he seemed to be enjoying it just as much as she was – why shouldn't they have some harmless fun and make the best of the situation?

"Anyway," Hanna felt bold all of a sudden, "Get some sleep, and prepare yourself for another day of being my boyfriend."

"Not sure anything could prepare me for that," Caleb joked back, "You'd be one hell of a handful of a girlfriend."

Though she knew that he was obviously kidding, Hanna couldn't help it when she felt her heart sink at his comment. She looked down and fumbled with the bottom of her skirt as she felt a few tears begin to well in her eyes. Her tendency to be self-conscious about everything meant that she often reacted in an overly-sensitive manner to comments like this – it annoyed her to no end, but it was a part of her personality that she couldn't seem to change.

"Han?" Came a gentle voice down the line, "I'm sorry, you know I didn't mean it."

Hanna snivelled as she wiped a stray tear from her cheek, "I know, don't worry." Her voice wobbled a little as she spoke, and Caleb picked up on it straight away.

"I've upset you, haven't I?" He asked, sounding regretful, "I was only-"

"You were joking, I know," Hanna interrupted, chuckling sadly, "You know me, I'm just being oversensitive."

"I don't even know why I said it," Caleb's voice was quiet, "You wouldn't be a handful at all; in fact, the opposite. You're kind, and you're beautiful, and you're probably my favourite person in the world. Any guy would be pretty damn lucky to call you his girlfriend."

Hanna found herself shedding another tear, but this time one of gratitude rather than of self-pity. "You don't mean that," She mumbled, though the smile plastered across her face suggested that she believed otherwise.

"I do," Caleb confirmed, "Don't doubt yourself Han, you deserve the world."

Hanna bit her bottom lip to stop her smile from getting any bigger, "You do too, you know?"

Caleb let out a short laugh, and Hanna imagined the glint in his eyes at her words. She hadn't just complimented him because she felt compelled to after he'd been so sweet towards her – she genuinely believed what she was saying.

"Thanks," He replied, almost a whisper, "I'll see you tomorrow, _girlfriend._ "

Hanna smiled at his use of the word, even if his tone implied that he intended for an invisible 'fake' to be read alongside it.

"Good night, _boyfriend_ ," She whispered back, pushing the button to end the call. Bringing her phone to her chest, Hanna curled her knees up and rested her chin atop of them, allowing herself five minutes to grin like a thirteen-year-old who'd just been asked out for the first time.

* * *

 **So there's the second chapter, I hope it lived up to expectations! Reviews are very much appreciated, as always.**


	3. Chapter Three

**You guys are seriously the sweetest. Your reviews make me so so so happy, I honestly can't thank you enough!**

 **Haleb is endgame ~ I'm imagining them as their season 5B selves, (just because I want them to be almost finished with high school i.e. on the older side, short-haired Caleb, and for Hanna to have slightly longer hair – all about the aesthetics haha), though you can go ahead and imagine them as their season 3 selves if that works for you!**

 **Anyway, enjoy more Haleb cuteness with an added sprinkle of Caleb protectiveness in this chapter (psst, you can still follow me on twitter for updates, hannnarivers).**

* * *

Chapter Three

* * *

"You're coming too, right Han?"

Hanna swallowed the mouthful of hamburger that she was half way through chewing and nodded profusely, "Of course I am," She shot back at Alison, "Since when did I ever miss the opportunity to go to a party?"

Caleb shoved his plate of partially eaten fries sideways across the lunch table to Hanna, who smiled gratefully at him as she pulled them closer and started picking. He then turned to face a decidedly uncomfortable looking Spencer, who seemed to be deep in thought. "What's up with you?"

Spencer snapped out of her daze and sighed heavily, her gaze flicking quickly over her each of her three friends, "I just don't know if I can be bothered with another one of Mona Vanderwaal's birthday spectaculars, you know? It's gonna be a bunch of drunk guys trying to get their hands on a bunch of drunk girls, and maybe a game of beer pong if you're lucky."

Alison rolled her eyes as she took a sip of her drink, "You're such a party-pooper, Spence, lighten up a little."

"Besides," Hanna interjected, "We'll all be there, which means that you'll have people to talk to, right?" She turned to face Caleb, who nodded in confirmation.

There was a brief moment of silence as Spencer deliberated with herself. "Fine, I'll go," She huffed, "But only if we all go together so I know you guys won't ditch me."

Hanna nodded, "Deal. And I'll make sure the others come with us too."

Caleb shuffled awkwardly in his seat as he cleared his throat, turning to face Hanna, "Uh, I kinda thought that maybe I could pick you up, and we could go together?"

Spencer and Alison immediately turned to look at each other with questioning looks on their faces, and Hanna felt her cheeks turn red. The others didn't know about their little plan to keep Sean at bay yet, and she knew that this was going to be her opportunity to tell two of them. If only the other three were there too so that she didn't have to explain herself twice.

"Uh," Spencer began, "You don't even have a car."

"Well I obviously know that," Caleb shot back, "I was gonna walk her there."

Spencer nodded in understanding, "Ok, but what's with the exclusion?"

"Yeah, are we not good enough for you Rivers?" Alison laughed.

Caleb ran a hand through his hair nervously as he turned to Hanna – who was busy chewing away at her bottom lip – for guidance, "Should we tell them?"

"Tell us what?" probed Spencer, genuinely intrigued and feeling slightly impatient.

Hanna pursed her lips, "We're gonna have to at some point, I guess." She leaned forward, resting her elbows on the table and her head and in hands as she thought about the best way to explain the situation to her friends. "Caleb and I thought-" Caleb raised his eyebrows at her and she rolled her eyes, "Well, _I_ thought that it would be a good idea if me and Caleb pretended to be a couple, just for a little bit, to stop Sean from bothering me."

Spencer let out a short laugh and shook her head, while Alison sat looking totally amused.

"What?!" Hanna shot back at them, almost offended at how little faith they seemed to have in her plan, "It's been working so far!"

"I think it's great," Alison chuckled, "Anything that involves a fake relationship and making a jerk like Sean feel uncomfortable sounds like a good plan to me."

Spencer raised her eyebrows, "You mean you just want to laugh at them trying, and failing," She turned to face Hanna and Caleb, "Which will happen by the way," Her gaze was now fixed back on Alison, "To act like a couple?"

"Maybe," Alison mused, a grin plastered across her face.

Rolling her eyes, Spencer took a small forkful of her salad. "Well I think it's a horrible idea," She mumbled with her mouth full.

"Why?!" Hanna questioned, "It's no big deal, right?"

"Right," Spencer started, swallowing the remaining food in her mouth, "Until people notice that you're not doing normal couple stuff, like going on dates in public, or kissing."

Both Hanna and Caleb blushed at the mention of the two of them kissing, given the events of the previous day. The other girls immediately picked up on it, and Alison's eyes lit up at the chance to tease her friends a little.

"Oh my God, you've already done it, haven't you?" She laughed, "You've already kissed!"

Caleb sat twiddling his thumbs as Hanna looked down to hide her embarrassment, taking a sip of her water and shuffling uncomfortably in her seat. Neither of them gave an answer, and their silence seemed to be enough to confirm to their friends that Alison was indeed correct.

"How was it?" She smirked.

"Ali, leave them alone," Spencer interrupted, trying to save Hanna and Caleb from having to answer the question, "You're making them feel uncomfortable."

"Oh come on Spence, I'm only playing with them," Sighed Alison, rolling her eyes before a sly smile crept back onto her face. "But seriously, was it good?"

Hanna opened her mouth with the intention of telling Alison to shut up, but then the sound of a 'yes' coming from Caleb interrupted her and she shot her head round to look at him, her eyes widening in shock. Suddenly looking worried, Caleb's face dropped at her reaction and he shook his head apologetically, but then stopped as he noticed a small grin forming on Hanna's face. He lifted his head slightly and met her gaze, gratefully returning her smile.

"Huh, just as I thought," Smirked Alison, looking smug as she moved the cold food on her plate around with her fork.

The blush on Caleb's cheeks deepened as both Spencer and Alison began giggling, and he looked down at his lap in embarrassment. Noticing how uncomfortable he looked, Hanna subtly reached under the table to squeeze his leg reassuringly; their friends only meant well, but sometimes they could take things a little too far, especially Alison. And for some reason she had been feeling particularly protective over Caleb lately.

"Enough, ok?"

The other girls' faces dropped and they immediately stopped laughing, both in slight shock at Hanna's sudden change in attitude.

"Fine," Agreed Alison, throwing her hands up in resignation, "No more teasing. Lovers."

Finally dropping the topic of the fake relationship, Alison began talking about what she thought everyone might wear to the party that night – a conversation which Hanna would usually readily engage in, but not today. She couldn't help but be distracted as Caleb kept stealing glances at her and she smiled back shyly, the names of the designers and brands and colours that were coming out of her friend's mouth going right over her head.

Reaching into her bag to retrieve her phone, she subtly began typing out a text to Caleb under the table before pressing send, and pursing her lips in anticipation as she waited for his phone to vibrate. Five seconds later and she heard a noise coming from his pocket, prompting him to reach for his cell and scan his eyes over the message, a warm smile spreading across his face as he read her words.

 _Don't worry, it was good for me too xx_

* * *

At exactly nine o'clock that evening, Caleb left his apartment and started walking the short distance to Hanna's house; they had both agreed that going to the party together would be the best thing to do, for the sole purpose of keeping up appearances, of course. As he strolled down the dimly lit streets of Hanna's plush neighbourhood, Caleb couldn't help but feel a little nervous about the night to come. He put it down to the fact that he wanted their plan to go smoothly so as to keep Sean off of Hanna's back, but a small part of him also knew that he was nervous about living up to Hanna's expectations. _What expectations, though?_ He wasn't Hanna's boyfriend. He was her fake boyfriend. Yet he still had an irrepressible urge to see her eyes light up, to see that adorable little smile creep upon her face when he said something sweet that made her blush.

Within minutes, he found himself standing in front of Hanna's door, and he tentatively reached his finger out to press the ornate doorbell twice. As if she had been waiting for him, Hanna swung the door open before the second bell could even sound through the house, a bright grin plastered across her features.

"Hey!" She beamed, reaching behind her to retrieve a black Saint Laurent purse which she then slung over her body.

Hanna was wearing a short, tight red dress with a plunging neckline and cut-outs at the waist, that contrasted perfectly with the pair of high, black, strappy heels adorning her feet. Her long hair was down and fell in gentle waves around her shoulders, framing her perfectly made up features including her full pair of rosy lips, which were tonight coated in a bright red lipstick that left Caleb with no option but to stare. In fact, he couldn't help but stare at everything about the girl in front of him at that moment in time. Hanna looked _amazing_.

"Uh, are you okay?" Hanna chuckled, breaking Caleb out of his little reverie.

He shook his head and smiled back at her, looking a little embarrassed. "Yeah, I'm good," He blew a puff of air out through his lips, trying to think of the best way to express his feelings at that moment, "You just look incredible."

Now it was Hanna's turn to blush, as she felt the tell-tale burn spreading its way through her cheeks; she couldn't help but bite her lip in a feeble attempt to stop her smile from getting any bigger. Sean had never looked at her like that, not once in the two years that they had been together, and the realisation made her appreciate Caleb all the more.

"Thanks," She returned warmly, so quietly that it was almost a whisper. "You don't look so bad yourself."

Caleb was wearing a simple pair of jeans and a shirt – he was well aware of the fact that he was underdressed for a 'Mona Vanderwaal party', but he didn't exactly have the most extensive wardrobe, and he knew that Hanna wouldn't care anyway. Sending her a smile of gratitude, he held his hand out for the girl in front of him to take and nodded his head in the direction of the sidewalk. "Come on, let's go deceive some ex-boyfriends."

Hanna giggled as she took his hand, closing the door behind her with the other as she trod carefully in her six inch heels, "Just the one ex-boyfriend will be enough for now."

"Got it," Caleb nodded, "Though if you ever need help warding another one off in the future, I'd be more than happy to lend a hand."

"Good to know," Hanna smiled back at him, a twinkle in her eyes. She was very aware of the fact that they were still holding hands as they walked, despite the reality that the streets were almost empty and they were nowhere near any of their classmates, but it felt comfortable. Hanna had to admit to herself that she liked the feeling of Caleb's fingers intertwined with her own, and as they got closer and closer to their destination, the simple interaction began to feel like second nature.

As they neared the towering front entrance of the Vanderwaal 'mansion', Caleb slipped his hand away from Hanna's to push the door open, and she couldn't help but feel a little disappointed at the loss of contact as the cold air encompassed her now exposed skin. They pushed their way through crowds of drunk eighteen-year-olds, their hands quickly finding their way back to each other as a means of both control and comfort. A few strange looks were directed at them as acquaintances noticed their close proximity, but they ignored the unwanted attention as best as they could, Caleb giving Hanna's hand a gentle squeeze every time he felt her tense up.

"Hey!"

Hanna jumped slightly as she felt a tap on her shoulder, and turned to find Emily smiling back at her, a plastic cup of what looked like punch in her hand. "Hey Em!"

Still gripping onto Caleb, Hanna threw her free arm around her friend, who returned her hug enthusiastically. As they pulled away from each other, Emily shifted her gazed downwards to where Hanna and Caleb's hands were joined, and she raised an eyebrow knowingly.

"So, I'm guessing you agreed to the plan?" She teased Caleb, even though she knew full well that he had.

Caleb nodded once. "Reluctantly," He replied, knowing that his response would elicit a reaction from Hanna.

Just as he had suspected, she reached up and slapped his arm lightly. "Hey!" She retorted, "It was _so_ not reluctantly. Earlier you said that-"

"Emily doesn't need to know what I said earlier," Caleb interrupted, grinning down at her.

Emily was smiling at the interaction between the two of them – they seemed so comfortable around each other. "Emily does need to know what Caleb said earlier."

"Ooh, ooh, so does Aria!"

Toby and Aria approached the threesome from the other side of the room, inviting themselves to join the conversation. _Damn_ , now she had to explain the situation to them too, although it was always going to happen eventually.

Hanna rubbed her forehead nervously, and sensing her unease, Caleb took the lead in the conversation. "Me and Hanna are pretending to be together to get Sean off her back," He stated, simply.

Both Toby and Aria nodded understandingly – they were, rather predictably, taking the news a lot more lightly that Spencer and Alison had.

"Ok," Aria began, "But we still don't know what you said earlier."

Hanna laughed as she shook her head; her friends could be so nosy sometimes. "And you don't really need to," She gestured towards the drinks table, "Now come on, let's go get me drunk so I'm not so nervous about my fake relationship."

The group – who were joined by Spencer and Alison soon after – made their way towards the numerous bottles of alcohol and soda scattered across the wooden dining table, that was tonight located in the corner of the Vanderwaal's living room. Hanna's eyes scanned over the various beverages, eventually landing on exactly the drink she was looking for. Vodka. Before she could reach out to pick it up, Caleb had beaten her to it, throwing the bottle up into the air with a flick of his wrist and then catching it. She was about to complain, when he handed her the vodka soda that he had just poured, and she realised that he had made it for her.

"For my girlfriend," He smiled with a wink, eliciting a giggle from Hanna.

He had actually remembered what she liked to drink – impressive.

"Why thank you, boyfriend," She replied, wiggling her eyebrows for effect.

After Caleb had poured himself the same drink, he sat down on the plush, maroon leather couch directly next to the table, given that this was where the rest of their friends had now gathered. Spencer, Toby, and Alison occupied the rest of the couch, whilst Emily was perched on the arm, and Aria sat on the rug in front of her.

Realising that there was nowhere for Hanna to sit, Caleb was about to stand back up and offer her his place, when he noticed an irritated looking Sean staring at him from across the room. Thinking on his feet, he stayed put, and reached out to grab Hanna's arm, pulling her down onto his lap. She looked surprised at first, but once she realised what was happening, she simply smiled up at Caleb and shuffled a little to make herself more comfortable.

"Sean," He leaned down to whisper in her ear, discreetly nodding his head towards the blonde boy who stood in the corner.

Hanna nodded understandingly, immediately averting her gaze so as not to give away their game. She eagerly joined in with the current group conversation, as did Caleb, and was sitting so close to the drinks table that she could easily reach over and refill her cup whenever she felt the need. Though this seemed like a good thing at the time, within half an hour she had unwittingly consumed five drinks, and was definitely beginning to feel a little tipsy.

Mostly as a result of the five vodka sodas, Hanna was now fully slumped back against Caleb's chest and laughing a little too loudly at a joke that Toby had made, when she felt something warm around her waist. She shot her head down to see Caleb's arms snaking around her, his hands resting on her stomach. A rush of heat flooded through her body at the unexpected contact – she put it down to the alcohol, and decided that she was going to let her drunk self enjoy what she was feeling, given the situation. Being careful not to encourage Caleb to unwrap his arms from around her, she leaned sideways slightly in an attempt to refill her cup once again, but as she went to pick up her newly replenished beverage, the grip around her waist tightened.

"Hmmm, what are you doing?" She moaned unhappily. She _really_ wanted another drink.

"Stopping you," Caleb mumbled hoarsely in her ear, sending a shiver down Hanna's spine.

She cleared her throat, "From what?"

"From having too much to drink," He concluded, shifting her a little on his lap so that she was no longer facing the 'vodka table', as she'd been continually calling it that night.

Hanna sighed, "I've not had too much to drink, I'm fine boyfriend."

Caleb laughed at her reply, and leaned down close to her face to whisper as he looked directly into her eyes, "You're gonna need to stop calling me boyfriend so much, normal couples don't do that babe."

 _Babe_. She couldn't help but smile to herself at how easily the nickname had slipped out of his mouth, and how much she liked the sound of it. As she realised how ridiculous her calling Caleb 'boyfriend' all night must have sounded, her head lolled back and she broke out in laughter, lightly slapping his cheek with one hand as she secretly retrieved her cup with the other. She brought it straight to her lips and took a fearless gulp of the liquid while Caleb was distracted, wincing as she quickly realised that she'd forgotten to top the vodka up with soda.

Her face scrunched up and she began to flail her hands around as the taste of pure vodka hit the back of her throat, "Help me!"

Slightly concerned, Caleb took the red cup from her hand and looked at what was in it, laughing out loud as he realised why Hanna was so distressed. "Yeah, you definitely don't need this," He concluded, "Pass me the soda and I'll have it."

Hanna did as Caleb had asked and grabbed the soda back from the table, but swiftly snatched it away when he tried to take it from her.

"What?" He asked, feigning exasperation.

A sly smile crept upon Hanna's face and her eyes glistened with excitement, "I'll give you it in exchange for something."

She was literally behaving like a five-year-old, but Caleb decided to play along, "And what would you like in exchange Hanna?" She was staring up at him, still flopped against his chest as she held the bottle out to one side, and he couldn't help but think about how adorable she looked.

"A kiss."

Hanna bit her lip and smirked after revealing her simple wish, continuing to look up at Caleb with her big, blue, pleading eyes. Caleb looked over to see if Sean was watching – he was – and sighed as he turned his attention back to Hanna's hopeful smile once again. He wasn't sure that he would have been able to turn down her offer even if they hadn't been in their current 'fake relationship' situation, but he put his feelings down to the fact that, much like he girl in his arms, he wasn't exactly sober. The only thing stopping him from kissing her in that moment was the fear that he would be taking advantage, but with their peers listening to their conversation and numerous others around them, they would definitely give the game away if he didn't give into her wishes.

Caleb raised his eyebrows at Hanna as a way of asking if she was sure, and when her smile only got wider at his implied question, he gave in and cupped her cheek with his free hand, bringing their lips together in a soft kiss that tasted like strawberry lip balm and vodka. After the initial contact, he felt Hanna open her mouth slightly and involuntarily did the same, taking her plump bottom lip between his. She moaned as he bit down on it gently and shuffled even closer to him, slanting her mouth over his again and again as she slowly felt herself losing control.

Suddenly remembering where they were and the fact that Hanna wasn't _actually_ his girlfriend, Caleb pulled away from the kiss, leaving Hanna with her lips parted and her eyes closed. Her eyelids slowly fluttered open, and he couldn't miss the look of confusion and disappointment that was plastered across her face. He couldn't lie to himself and say that he wasn't disappointed too, because he was. But they were in a _fake_ relationship, and they were both drunk, and he just couldn't let it go any further.

A wolf whistle came from beside him, drawing his attention away from Hanna – of course it had come from Alison.

"Get a room!" She joked, laughing along with all the others, who had clearly watched the whole thing play out.

Caleb suddenly became very aware of how heavily he and Hanna were both breathing, and of the fact that his arms were still wrapped around her waist; he couldn't help it as he absentmindedly began to stroke the little patch of skin that her dress revealed on her left hip. All conversation around him sounded like nonsense as he desperately tried to figure out what exactly he was feeling, and the process wasn't made any easier when Hanna dropped the soda bottle, moving one of her hands and intertwining it with his on her stomach.

* * *

For the next three hours, Hanna and Caleb stayed exactly where they were as the whole world seemed to move around them, drunk bodies dancing and swaying and stumbling in close proximity. There may have been another few kisses – just for show, of course – and despite Caleb trying to stop her, Hanna had consumed at least another four drinks. She had gone way past the happy tipsy stage that she had reached earlier, and was now full on drunk. Although he was definitely not sober either, Caleb had stopped himself having more than he should as he came to the realisation that he would pretty much be babysitting her for the rest of the night.

Hanna was now bearing all of her weight on him, not that it was a lot, and her head was wedged underneath his chin. She stretched upwards as her hands went to the back of Caleb's neck, her dress riding up a little too far in the process. Caleb reacted immediately by pulling it back down, Spencer – the only one of their friends still at the party with them – shaking her head and laughing at the interaction.

"I'm gonna go and get my coat," She stated as she stood up, brushing the skirt of her black dress with the back of her hand before heading off to the cloakroom.

Hanna had erupted into a spontaneous fit of giggles and was slowly sliding down Caleb's lap, her eyes closed and her head swaying from side to side.

"I think we should probably get going too, or somebody's gonna fall asleep," He decided, patting her stomach lightly as he tried to shuffle her back up to a seated position.

"No I'm not," Hanna mumbled quietly, "I'm the life and soul of the party, actually."

Caleb chuckled and lifted her up and off of him, placing her down on the couch next to him before he stood up. "Think you can sit here for a second while I go pee?"

Hanna seemed to genuinely think about her answer, "Sure, I'm very responsible." Her head tipped back against the couch and a lazy grin spread across her face. "Bye boyfriend."

Laughing as he shook his head, Caleb began to walk in the direction of the restroom, "Bye Han."

"That's girlfriend to you!"

Now that she was alone, Hanna came to the sudden realisation that she was more drunk than she had originally thought. The room was spinning slightly, and she may have had a poor sense of judgement at the time, but she could definitely make out a smug looking Sean walking in her direction. _Crap_. Her heart began to race in her chest as he sat down on the couch next to her. That was Caleb's seat, what was he doing?

Sean's greedy eyes looked her up and down and she felt infinitely uncomfortable under his gaze. "What do you want, Sean?" She slurred, trying to sound as intimidating as she could.

"Just thought I'd come over and tell you how amazing you look, that's all," He replied with a sickly grin, placing his clammy hand on her bare leg.

Hanna attempted to push him off but he simply grabbed her hand and shoved it away, moving the hand on her thigh even further up and pushing her dress with it. He leaned in so that his face was almost touching hers, and she suddenly felt like she was going to throw up.

"You know, it's not too late to change your mind," He jeered, "I saw the way he kissed you, and I could kiss you better."

"I don't want you to kiss me," Hanna whimpered, her lip wobbling, "Please leave me alone."

She attempted to push him off again, but it only resulted in him pinning her back against the couch, his ragged breaths invading her ears. The room was almost empty by now, and the few remaining party-goers seemed completely oblivious to what was going on.

"Sure you do," Sean mumbled, forcing a kiss against her neck as Hanna squirmed, tears welling in her eyes.

Just as she was preparing a comeback, she felt Sean being abruptly torn away from her, and was filled with an immediate sense of relief as she realised that it was Caleb who had grabbed him. The two were now standing face to face – Sean was angry, but his expression was nothing compared to the look of pure fury etched into Caleb's features.

"Don't you dare do that ever again," Caleb seethed, "For one thing she has a boyfriend, and for another she's drunk off her face. I know for a fact that she doesn't want you anywhere near her."

Sean opened his mouth in an attempt to speak, but Caleb interrupted him, "You are nothing but scum and you don't deserve to be in the same room as Hanna."

He received nothing but a sneer in response from Sean – he still wasn't taking him seriously.

"I swear to God, you ever go near her again and I won't think twice about punching you in that smug little face of yours," Caleb warned, his breathing getting heavier by the minute.

Sean grinned, and side-stepped in Hanna's direction, clearly wanting to get a rise out of Caleb. His plan backfired, and Caleb immediately lurched forward, grabbing his shirt at the neck and pulling him towards him forcefully.

"Don't," He spat in his face, "You dare."

Sean couldn't help but feel intimidated as Caleb's eyes challenged him to do something else, and when he didn't, he found himself being dropped and shoved away so that his back slammed into the wall behind him. He rolled his eyes and huffed, before storming off and throwing a 'let's go' to a group of guys behind him, who were clearly his group of friends, or followers as Caleb liked to call them.

Once they were through the door and Caleb was sure they were gone for good, he turned to face Hanna, who was sitting on the couch whimpering. He walked over so that he was directly in front of her and crouched down, gently taking her hands in his. "Hey hey hey, are you alright?"

Hanna nodded unsurely as a tear fell down her cheek.

"What did he do to you?" Caleb dared to ask, concern etched into his features as he looked at her sympathetically.

"He was trying to, um," Hanna tried to get out, both the shock that she was feeling and the alcohol in her system making it hard for her speak, "He was trying-"

Caleb could tell that she was having trouble trying to explain herself, "Did he touch you, Han?" He hated having to ask her that question because he knew it would upset her, but he needed to know.

She took a deep breath as her bottom lip started to wobble, "He, he touched my thigh, and was um, kissing my neck, and he had me pinned, and his hand was getting higher, and, and-"

Caleb rubbed her arm up and down soothingly in an attempt to calm her down, "Shhh, it's okay."

Hanna nodded slowly and wiped her nose. "I was really, really scared," She mumbled, barely a whisper.

 _How could he do this to her?_ Caleb thought. She was the sweetest person he knew, and the fact that Sean had treated her like this made him feel sick to his stomach. "Hey, come here," He prompted gently, holding his arms out to her as she flopped into them and he started to rub her back soothingly. "He's never gonna do that to you again, ok?"

"I know he's not," Hanna snivelled against his chest, "Not when I have you protecting me. Thank you."

Caleb smiled to himself and pulled away, pressing a soft kiss against her forehead. "Come on, let's get you home."

Hanna nodded sadly and tried to stand up alongside Caleb, but a wave of dizziness passed over her as she did and she almost fell straight back onto the couch. Caleb reacted quickly by grabbing her around the waist, and pulling one of her arms around his shoulder.

"Come on you," He smiled at her fondly, as she looked up at him with eyes full of guilt.

Caleb gave Mona a quick wave goodbye before helping Hanna put her coat on – which actually proved to be quite difficult when she couldn't hold herself upright – and walking out of the house. After the first two steps that they took outside, Caleb realised just how hard Hanna was finding it to walk in her heels, and couldn't help but find the look of concentration on her face completely adorable. He was basically the only thing holding her up by this point, her legs pretty much useless to all intents and purposes.

Deciding that they were never going to make it home if they carried on like this, Caleb lead them over to a wooden bench and turned Hanna so that she was directly in front of it.

"Sit down here a second Han," He prompted, making sure that she got down to the level of the bench safely by holding onto her arm as she sat. He crouched down and started to remove her heels, which Hanna didn't seem all too happy about.

"What, what are you doing with those?" She asked, sounding a little upset, "Those are my most favouritest shoes."

Caleb chuckled at her choice of words – she was so cute when she was drunk. And when she wasn't, actually. "Don't worry, I'll keep them safe," He promised, "Just trying to make sure that someone doesn't wake up with two grazed knees tomorrow."

He stood back up and attached the straps of the shoes to the bag that Hanna had slung over her shoulder, before wrapping one arm around her back and the other underneath her legs, lifting her up and off of the bench.

Hanna smiled giddily as she was lifted up into the air, the events of that night seemingly erased from her mind temporarily. "Woooooo!" She shouted out into the quiet of the night, "It's like a free rollercoaster!"

"Hmm," Caleb mused, "Not quite."

"Well I'm enjoying it," She retorted, looking up at him with a huge grin plastered across her face.

Caleb couldn't help but press a kiss against her forehead– she was too cute. "You're very easily amused."

Hanna let out a loud laugh, "I _always_ enjoy being with you, silly, whether you're a rollercoaster or not."

He smiled to himself at her words; she really had no idea of the effect that she was having on him.

"Don't you enjoy being around me too?" Came a quiet voice from the girl in his arms, after he didn't reply to her comment.

Caleb didn't have to think twice about his answer, "Being around you might just be my very favourite thing."

* * *

 **So there's chapter three… a slightly longer chapter three than I had originally anticipated, but oh well! Reviews are always always always appreciated x**


	4. Chapter Four

**Quite pleased with myself for getting this chapter up so quickly, not gonna lie. A few people have asked if I'll still be updating my other story as well as this one – I will, but I've just been struggling with ideas recently! So if any of you have any ideas for cute Haleb post-6A but pre-6B oneshots, be my guest and let me know in the reviews on Coming Home. Anyway, enjoy chapter four!**

* * *

Chapter Four

* * *

"Ten, nine, eight, seven-"

"Hanna stop it I'm-"

"Six, five, four, three-"

"Han, I'm not throwing you up in the air!"

"Two, one!" Hanna looked up at Caleb from her position in his arms, her blue eyes hopeful as she held her bottom lip between her teeth.

Caleb let out a laugh, shaking his head slowly, "I said no."

The journey from Mona's house to Hanna's definitely should not have taken them an hour, but due to Hanna's constant requests for Caleb to walk faster and slower as she pleased, and the fact that they had to stop a couple of times because she thought that she might have been a little sick, they'd added another forty minutes to their usual journey.

"You're a terrible rollercoaster," Hanna scoffed, an almost disgusted look on her face as she directed her gaze at the floor, "What kind of a ride doesn't throw you in the air?"

"One that wants to keep you alive," Caleb joked back, pushing open the front gate to the Marin household, "And this rollercoaster's coming to an end anyway, I'm afraid."

He unzipped Hanna's bag – which had fallen off of her shoulder several times during the 'rollercoaster ride' home – and took out her set of keys as they neared the front door. Hanna's mom was still away on business, and so he felt an unspoken responsibility to make sure that she was tucked up safe in bed that night.

"I can do that," Hanna sounded offended as she tried to snatch the keys from Caleb's hands, shifting her weight in the process and almost falling out of his arms.

"Careful!" He warned, pulling her closer to him, "You're gonna hurt yourself Han."

Hanna pouted grumpily and let out an exaggerated huff through her nose, folding her arms over her chest as she gave in and let him unlock the door, "Fine."

Upon entering the house, Caleb flipped the light switch on and closed the door behind him carefully, making sure that he didn't loosen his grip on Hanna. He kicked his shoes off – as he always did when he came over – and started making his way up the stairs to Hanna's room, focusing hard on where he was treading so that he didn't trip.

"Do you wanna change and go to the bathroom before I put you in bed?" He asked, looking around the room for something that might clue him in as to where Hanna kept her pyjamas. When he received no reply, he looked down to find that her eyes were drooping shut over and over as she continually fell asleep and woke herself up, her head tipping forward and making her jolt upright every few seconds.

Caleb chuckled to himself, "I'll take that as a no then."

"Mmmh, what are you taking?" Came a muffled moan from his arms.

"Nothing," He grinned, walking towards Hanna's king sized bed, "Don't you worry about that."

"Where are we going?"

"You're going to bed Hanna."

"But- but I can't go to bed in all these clothes!"

Caleb sighed, moving a stray piece of hair from Hanna's face, "So you want to get changed then?"

Hanna, whose eyes were now wide open, stuck her bottom lip out and nodded quickly, "Please boyfriend."

He couldn't help but smile when she called him that.

"Ok," Caleb agreed, propping a bright pink pillow up against the headboard of the bed before he sat Hanna up with her back to it, "You wait here, and I'll go find something for you. Where do you keep your pyjamas?"

Hanna's cheeks turned a little red – she kept her pyjamas in the same drawer as her underwear, and in that moment she felt infinitely embarrassed about the idea of Caleb seeing her matching lacy bra and panty sets.

"I uh-" She stuttered, "You don't need, I uh, I'll find them." She tried to push herself up off the bed, but her arms collapsed and she fell onto her back in a fit of giggles. _Stupid alcohol._

"Yeah, I don't think that's happening Han," Caleb chuckled, walking back over to her and pushing her legs up onto the bed so that they were no longer dangling off of it.

Still laughing, Hanna sighed dramatically, "But what if I don't want you to see my panties Caleb?"

"You- what?"

Hanna blushed as she realised what she'd just said. "I mean, I mean I keep my pyjamas with my underwear, but I didn't," She took a deep breath in, her voice turning to a whisper, "I didn't want you to see my panties."

"Oh really?" Caleb decided to poke a bit of fun at her while he had the opportunity – drunk Hanna was always amusing in these kind of situations.

Her eyes went wide at his response and she stopped laughing immediately, "No, I don't mean these panties," She pointed down to her crotch, before pointing at a drawer to the right of her bed, "I mean those panties, in that uh- that drawer thingy there."

"So you don't want me to see the panties in your drawer, but you don't mind me seeing the ones that you're wearing?" Caleb smirked as he poked at Hanna's belly lightly, causing her to erupt into a fit of giggles once again. "Let me guess what colour they are... Red? Black?"

She squirmed around, squealing his name continually in an attempt to get him to stop – although really she was enjoying it – until eventually he eased off and took a step back.

"Still sure you wanna show me those panties?" He joked, raising an eyebrow at Hanna.

She bit her bottom lip and shook her head in response, her smile still evident in her glistening eyes.

Caleb shot her a grin and turned around, walking swiftly towards the drawer that Hanna had informed him was the hiding place of her underwear. He opened it slowly and carefully peered inside, purposefully trying not to look at the abundance of bras and thongs and God knows what else as he searched for something for Hanna to sleep in.

"Wait! I changed my mind!"

Caleb turned around at the sound of her voice, eyeing the pair of pyjama shorts and the grey t-shirt in his hands, "I found-"

He stopped in his tracks when he looked up, and saw Hanna kneeling on her bed in nothing but her lacy black underwear, her dress in her hands and a huge grin plastered across her face.

 _Oh God_.

"Han, I was kidding!" He half warned, half laughed, trying not to make eye contact with her, "I was getting you pyjamas and then I was gonna leave the room and let you get changed!" He could feel himself blushing furiously.

Hanna shrugged her shoulders as he turned his back on her. "I got bored of waiting," She answered, nonchalantly.

Caleb didn't know whether to laugh or cry; the urge that he had to turn around and look at Hanna's semi-naked form was almost irrepressible, but the voice in his head was telling him that it would be a stupid thing to do. She was drunk, and vulnerable, and clearly wouldn't strip in front of him like that on any other occasion. So he stayed where he was and threw the tiny shorts and baggy top that he'd picked out for her behind him onto the bed.

"Put those on Han," He directed, breathing in through his nose, "I'll be downstairs getting you some water."

"No, wait!"

Caleb sighed, his back to Hanna and his hand on the door handle, "Yes?"

"I don't think I can work these on my own."

Her voice was so teeny-tiny and adorable that Caleb couldn't help it when he gave in and turned around, trying to look at Hanna's face and nowhere else. He strode back over to the bed and took the pyjama top from her hands, as she lay there on her back with her legs in the air and the shorts that Caleb had picked out pulled half way up them – backwards.

"Arms up," He demanded, inadvertently taking in the sight of Hanna's chest when she did as he had asked. _She's so beautiful_ , he couldn't help but think as he noticed how her soft, pale skin contrasted against the dark black lace of her bra.

"Did I remember to shave these?" Hanna enquired, turning her head to the side as she stared down at her armpits. Caleb was thankful for the distraction.

"Yes," He laughed, finally pulling the grey top down over her head, "You definitely shaved."

"Both of them?" She asked in disbelief.

"Both of them."

Hanna stuck her bottom lip out and nodded in approval of herself, "I am on fire today."

"You certainly are," Caleb chuckled under his breath, moving his hands to the top of the shorts that were still stuck at her knees. He took them off and turned them the right way around before starting to pull them up, but they came to an abrupt stop and he struggled to move them any further when they reached Hanna's ass. "Lift your butt up for me Han."

"Oooh, saucy!" She wiggled her eyebrows and burst into laughter but did as Caleb had instructed, allowing him to pull the shorts all the way up. As he did, he accidentally brushed the back of his hand over her ass, a rush of heat flooding to his cheeks in embarrassment.

Hanna's head shot up at the contact. She took her bottom lip between her teeth, before looking him dead in the eyes as she spoke softly, "You have really soft hands for a man."

Caleb didn't even know why he'd expected her to be angry, but he still felt a sense of relief – and oddly, satisfaction – at her words. "Thanks, Han," He laughed, lightly.

She hadn't broken their eye contact once since he'd pulled her shorts up, and Caleb felt like he couldn't break it either. He needed to get out of there before he did something that he'd regret.

Before he could make a move either way, Hanna broke the silence with an excited, child-like whisper, "Can I tell you a secret?"

Caleb cleared his throat, curious as to what she had to say, "Of course you can."

She beckoned him closer with her finger, giggling happily before she gently took his shirt in her fist and pulled his face right down to hers, her lips pressed up against his ear and her nose nuzzling his cheek. "Sometimes I wish you were my _real_ boyfriend."

* * *

The next morning, Caleb sat cross-legged on his bed eating a bowl of cereal. His mind was elsewhere, though, and he couldn't stop dropping cornflakes and little splashes of milk onto his white bed sheets. Had Hanna _actually_ meant what she said the night before? Of course she hadn't – she was drunk, and loved to mess with Caleb whenever she had the opportunity to do so – he was stupid to think otherwise. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get rid of the niggling little voice in his head that told him that she might have been telling the truth, that her inebriated self had revealed to him what her sober self couldn't.

The noise of his phone vibrating against his bedside table bought Caleb back to reality. He picked it up and replaced it with the bowl of cereal in his hands, before punching in his passcode and opening the message that he'd just received… from Hanna.

 _Hey! Thanks for putting me to bed last night (I'm assuming it was you?), I owe you one. Still up for studying at your place today? xx_

So she clearly didn't remember what she'd said. Great.

Caleb sighed and pushed a hand through his hair, debating with himself as to what he should reply.

 _Sorry Han, turns out I'm busy. Will see you Monday xx_

Guilt overcame him the minute he pressed send. He wasn't busy at all that day – he just couldn't face seeing Hanna without asking her about what she'd said, and he knew that he didn't have the guts to do it. They had been best friends for years now, and he didn't want anything to come between them, especially something like this. If he asked her about it and she laughed at him, or thought he was making it up… he just didn't want to put her in an awkward position. Why did he care so much, anyway?

Hanna's replies didn't help to alleviate his guilt in the slightest.

 _Oh that's cool, I was looking forward to it though :( xx_

 _Everything okay? xx_

She knew he was lying. He was being stupid; he couldn't keep avoiding her like this forever. On Monday, he'd not only have to see her, but he'd have to pretend to be her boyfriend again. Of course, he didn't mind doing that at all, but from now on he knew that he'd be questioning the meaning behind every hand-hold, every hug, every kiss. And he didn't even know if he _wanted_ for there to be any meaning.

"Get it together, Caleb," He grumbled to himself, dropping his phone down onto the comforter before he resumed eating, ignoring Hanna's texts for the time being.

Ten minutes and some very soggy cornflakes later, Caleb heard a knock on the door and jumped up off of his bed to answer, but stopped in his tracks when he realised that it might have been Hanna. He couldn't ignore it now though – whoever it was would definitely have heard his footsteps; his apartment was only small.

"Caleb?"

It was a man's voice. Toby. _Phew_.

"Hold on," Caleb reassured him, unlocking the door before pulling it open to reveal his friend. "Hey man."

"Hey," Toby greeted as he walked into the apartment, Caleb closing the door behind him. "Thought you were studying with Hanna today?"

"Uh yeah," Caleb began, scratching his head and walking in the direction of the kitchen, "I was, but then she said she was spending the entire day with her dad so we're doing it some other time. Want a drink?"

Toby shook his head, "I'm good thanks," He paused, "That's kinda weird though."

"What's weird?"

"The fact that Hanna said she was spending the day with her dad," Toby replied, "Because I just spent the last half hour with her and Spencer, and she had no intention of leaving Spence's house any time soon."

Caleb's eyes widened – brilliant. Toby had caught him in a lie, and now he was going to have to explain why he didn't want to tell him the truth in the first place. "Uh yeah," He started, scrunching his face up and placing his empty cereal bowl down onto the kitchen counter, "She didn't actually say that, exactly."

Toby nodded in understanding, quirking an eyebrow as he pulled up a stool and sat down opposite to where Caleb stood, "So what did she say?"

"She said that she'd been looking forward to it and asked if I was okay when I cancelled on her," Caleb sighed, "I don't even know why I did it."

"Pretty sure you do," Toby argued, "I know you, and you wouldn't cancel on Hanna without a good reason. You like her too much to do that."

"I don't _like_ Hanna," Caleb shot back immediately, "I mean I like her as a friend, but I don't _like_ like her."

Toby held his hands up in the air as he laughed, "Hey man I didn't mean it like that, I meant as a best friend," He smirked, "But I totally think that you _like_ like her now."

"I don't," Caleb retorted, prompting Toby to raise an eyebrow at him in disbelief. "I don't, I don't know if I do but, I think that she might like me like… that."

"What would make you think that?" Toby enquired.

Caleb took a deep breath in. "She told me."

"Oh, well that's a pretty clear sign."

"Yeah. But there's a catch."

Toby nodded his head, prompting Caleb to go on.

"It was last night – she was drunk. Really drunk."

"Dude, girls will say anything when they're drunk," Toby laughed, "She probably meant that-"

"No," Caleb interrupted, putting his head in his hands as he mumbled, "I know what she meant, she couldn't have meant anything else. I just don't know if she _meant_ it."

Toby looked confused as he tried to decipher what Caleb was actually talking about. "You're making no sense," He chuckled, "But if you're really that upset about it, just ask her." He reached into his pocket and pulled out four movie tickets, "I came over to ask if you wanted to come to the theatre with me, Han, and Spencer later, I figured it would be fun."

"Uh, I don't know man," Caleb muttered, scratching the back of his head nervously, "I've kinda been avoiding her and I'm not sure that I would have the guts to ask her about what she actually meant if I did see her."

Toby shoved a ticket onto the kitchen island in front of Caleb and stood up, striding towards the door. "You're coming and you have no choice," He shouted, waving over his shoulder as he left the apartment without giving Caleb the chance to argue back, "Later!"

"Perfect," Huffed Caleb, picking up the movie ticket and turning it over in his hand as the door slammed shut, "Just perfect."

* * *

 _Don't worry, I'm all good. Coming to the theatre with you, Spencer, and Toby in twenty. Excited to see you xx_

Hanna smiled as she read Caleb's belated reply to her earlier texts – she was a little confused as to why he had taken so long to message her back, but all of her negative thoughts were replaced with a giddy feeling when she read his last sentence. She couldn't deny it; she was excited to see him too. She always was.

 _You sure? But good, excited to see you too xx_

Sighing, Hanna closed her texts and threw her phone down onto Spencer's bed, running her fingers through her long hair. Caleb hadn't replied to her for eight hours, and that had to mean something when he usually wrote back within five minutes, right?

"You okay, Han?" Spencer asked, sounding concerned as she walked back into her bedroom after doing her hair and spotted Hanna with her head in her hands.

Hanna pouted her lips in thought, looking down at her phone just to check that Caleb hadn't text her back yet, "How drunk was I last night?"

A loud laugh emanated from the opposite side of the room, where Spencer stood applying her lipstick, "Drunk enough that you didn't care when your dress rode up and a room full of people saw your panties."

"What?!" Hanna shot her head around so quickly that it almost hurt, her eyes wide, "I did what?!"

Spencer chuckled, "Ok, so it wasn't a room _full_ of people, loads of the others had left by then but-"

"Forget it," Hanna interrupted her, returning her head to its former position in her hands, "You've answered my question."

She knew that she was a lightweight and that she usually did some pretty dumb things when she was drunk, but with the way that Caleb had been 'acting' that day, Hanna wondered if she'd done something particularly obnoxious to offend him. She vaguely remembered Sean being at the party and there being some sort of conflict between he and Caleb, but she didn't see why that would make him want to stay away from her. The only other possibility that she could muster up was that she'd done something to upset him on the journey home, before he'd – she'd assumed – put her into bed. Then the realisation hit her.

"Oh my God, he put me to bed," Hanna thought out loud, breaking the silence in the room and startling Spencer a little.

Her friend looked miffed as she turned to face Hanna, "What now?"

"Last night," Hanna explained, "Caleb must have put me to bed."

"Yeah, so?"

Hanna sighed deeply, "So, what if I, you know…"

"No, I don't know," Spencer quirked an eyebrow, "What if you what?"

"What if I tried something with him? Like, something... sexual?" Hanna spat out, nervously.

A smile crept upon Spencer's face as she clearly tried to supress her urge to laugh, "What makes you think that you did that?"

Hanna was embarrassed now – she shouldn't have brought this up in front of Spencer, she should have thought about it herself first. She groaned and buried her head in Spencer's pillow, which succeeded in muffling her next words, "Because he's my fake boyfriend and we've gotten super close recently and I may or may not have been kissing him that entire night."

"That doesn't mean that you tried something with him," Spencer tried to reassure her friend, walking over to the bed to sit down beside her, "And anyway, who says that he'd mind if you did? I'm sure-"

"He's ignoring me Spence," Hanna cut her off, sharply. Spencer looked a little taken aback at the harshness of her tone, so she felt the need to explain herself, "I text him this morning and he didn't reply until just now." A nod from Spencer signalled for her to go on. "He usually texts back straight away. Me making a move on him is the only thing that I can think of that could have happened last night that would make him mad at me."

Spencer placed a hand on Hanna's shoulder in an attempt to calm her down, "Have you asked him, Han? I'm certain that he wouldn't be mad at you for that. I've seen the way he looks at you, and I'm pretty sure that he-"

"He doesn't like me like that Spence," Hanna mumbled, "I know he doesn't."

"Do you like _him_ like that?"

Spencer's question was completely unexpected. Hanna had never really thought about the answer to that question before. _Did she like Caleb like… that?_ Of course she didn't. She'd been best friends with him for years – if she had feelings for him, she'd have realised way before now, right?

"No," She answered, "I don't, I don't think I do."

Spencer sighed, pushing herself up off of the bed, "Well I think you need to straight up ask him about it Han," She paused, looking at Hanna's appearance from behind, "And he's gonna be here in five minutes so go do something with your hair."

"I will," Hanna grumbled into the pillow, not bothering to move at all.

She couldn't stop thinking about the question that Spencer had asked her just a minute ago, and about how quickly she had answered 'no'. She couldn't deny that Caleb made her feel special, that being around him made her happier than being around anyone else did. But why did that have to be an indicator of something more than friendship? She guessed that it didn't, but that it could, if she wanted it to… Did she want it to? Did _Caleb_ want it to? Is that why he was ignoring her?

Question upon question floated around her confused brain as she lay there on Spencer's bed, completely forgetting about her friend's orders to go and get ready. She didn't know what the hell had gotten into her lately, but as the doorbell rang and she heard a familiar voice echo through the downstairs hallway, she realised that she did know one thing – her fake relationship with Caleb Rivers was not turning out to be as simple as she'd once thought it would be.

* * *

 **Ta daaaa – chapter four! Reviews are always very welcome (and thank you for the lovely ones left on the last chapter, too) x**


	5. Chapter Five

**Sorry it's taken me a while to update, I'm on holiday (and also just a generally lazy person)! Hope you can all still remember what happened in chapter four, haha. On a side note, I'll be updating my other fic soon(ish), finally. I'm just, for some reason, finding this one a lot easier and a lot more enjoyable to write nowadays. Anyway, enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter Five

* * *

Of course they'd end up sitting next to each other. Of course, a group of Sean's friends would be gathered in exactly the same movie theatre at exactly the same time as them, only a few rows away. Of course, they'd be forced to hold hands and press kisses against each other's cheeks as they sat in the dark, waiting for the movie to begin. It was exactly what Hanna and Caleb didn't want to have to do given the uncertainty that they had weighing upon them, and yet here they both were.

Caleb discreetly lowered his gaze to look down at where his hand was joined with Hanna's, resting between them upon the velvet covered arm of the movie theatre seat. He could feel her twitch nervously every so often, and wondered if she could sense his unease as clearly as he could hers.

"Han," He leaned over to whisper in her ear, prompting her to turn her head towards him.

"Yeah?" She whispered back, a little louder than he had. Caleb couldn't help but notice that she looked almost _scared_.

He cleared his throat, gathering up some courage, "Can I ask you something?"

Unbeknown to him, Hanna's heart flipped at his words. She readied herself for the embarrassment that she was convinced was going to follow. "Sure."

As Caleb opened his mouth to speak again, the overhead lights dimmed until the room was almost pitch black, and the opening credits of the movie began to roll. He sighed, removing his hand from Hanna's briefly to scratch his head. "Afterwards," He mouthed, much to her relief.

Their hands reluctantly found their way back to each other, and remained in an ever so slightly sweaty grip until the movie finished a little more than two hours later. Caleb had tried to focus his attention on the big screen, but everything he saw just reminded him, in some way, of the girl sitting right beside him. An extra in the background of a scene was eating ice cream – Hanna liked ice cream. The leading lady had blue eyes – Hanna had blue eyes, and they were much more beautiful than the actress'. A guy kissed a girl – Caleb had kissed Hanna. A bunch of times. He'd kissed her that night at the party. The night that she had told him that she wished he was her boyfriend.

Yeah, he really needed to talk to her about this. It was officially going to drive him insane.

The moment the finishing credits started to roll, the pair were up and out of their seats without a word before anyone else in the movie theatre even had the chance to make a move. Spencer had tried to yell after them, Hanna recalled as she jumped into the passenger seat of Caleb's car, but for whatever reason they had both chosen to ignore her at the time.

Nobody had spoken during the very rushed walk to the car, and now that Hanna and Caleb were alone together in a small enclosed space, neither one of them knew where to begin. An awkward silence filled the vehicle, before they both attempted to speak at the same time and their words interrupted each other clumsily, "So-"

A little bit of tension was alleviated as they both let out a light chuckle. "You go first", Hanna offered, gesturing her hand out towards Caleb.

Caleb took a deep breath in. "Ok, so," He paused. Hanna nodded her head at him, prompting him to continue, "Something happened last night, and I was just wondering if you remembered or not?"

Hanna's heart sank at his words. Everything that he was saying only served to convince her more and more that she had done something inappropriate the previous night, crossed a line that she shouldn't have. "Caleb listen," She began, as her eyes started to well up, "I don't remember, but whatever I did, I'm sorry ok? If I pushed you too far then I-"

"Pushed me too far? What, what are you talking about Han?" Caleb interjected, a confused look on his face.

Hanna immediately felt stupid for making such an assumption, "Oh God I'm sorry, I just thought that maybe I'd, um, tried something with you last night while I was drunk. And that you didn't want to. Well obviously, why _would_ you want to, I mean-"

"Hanna, you're rambling," Caleb laughed, taking her hand in his. Hanna's eyes immediately flickered down to where his thumb was stroking gently over her knuckles, before he restarted speaking and she looked straight back up into his eyes. "You said that sometimes you wished I was your boyfriend."

Hanna's eyes went wide. Her mouth was slightly agape, but she said nothing.

Caleb decided to break the deafening silence. "That's what you told me, last night," He almost whispered.

Hanna gulped. Then she mentally cursed her drunk-self for being so stupid. Why would she have said that? I mean sure, Caleb treated her much better than any of her actual boyfriends ever had, and she had so much fun with him whenever they were together, and she was _definitely_ attracted to him but…

"I really said that?" She mumbled, looking embarrassed as she removed her hand from his to scratch the back of her head in a weak attempt to halt her trail of thought. Caleb only nodded in response.

Hanna sighed, tears brimming in her blue eyes once again. "I'm so sorry."

"Hey hey hey," Caleb replied worriedly, his voice still quiet, "There's nothing to be sorry about." He tentatively reached his hand up to wipe away a stray tear on her cheek with the pad of his thumb as she snivelled.

"There isn't?" She questioned naively, raising her eyebrows.

Caleb smiled in reassurance, "Of course not. Either you were too drunk to know what you were saying, or you were telling me how you really felt and just needed a little bit of alcohol to give you the courage to do it. I just wanted to know which of the two it was."

That would've been an easy enough question for Hanna to answer, had she have known the answer herself. She knew that she was definitely more drunk than she should have been, so the alcohol had played a large part in it, but she couldn't help that little niggling voice in her head that told her that Caleb was more than just a friend. In the end, she settled on allowing herself to accept that maybe, just maybe, it was a combination of the two.

"I definitely had too much to drink that night," She began with a giggle, wiping at her eyes, "But-"

"Han you don't have to explain yourself, it's okay," Caleb interjected, disappointment evident in his face. As soon as he had heard Hanna mention the alcohol, he had taken her answer as the former option and assumed that she had no intention of being more than his friend. He thought that that the new found – and newly accepted, as of today – feelings that he was harbouring for Hanna Marin, were one sided and would not be returned. "You were too drunk to know what you were really saying, I get it. That makes things a whole lot easier."

Hanna's mind was running at a million miles an hour. _Of course it makes things easier. Because he doesn't feel that way about you. He wanted to hear that you were just 'too drunk' because he didn't want to have to let you down. God Hanna, how could you even begin to think that he would…_

Hanna's thoughts were interrupted when she felt Caleb's hand on her arm, causing her to jump slightly. "Hey, are you ok?" He asked kindly, concerned.

"Yeah, totally fine," Hanna shot back with an overly enthusiastic smile plastered on her face, an attempt to conceal just how upset she was feeling at that moment, "Just glad that you didn't want me to say that I was telling the truth. That would have made things so complicated." She was really going over the top now, to falsely reassure both herself and Caleb that this was what she wanted. Little did she know that Caleb's apparent happiness was just as false as hers.

"It would," He nodded, a little sadness inadvertently seeping through in his voice.

The two remained silent for a few seconds, and soon found themselves staring into each other's eyes. It was as if they were having a competition to see who could uncover, unmask the other person's true feelings first. To see if they could really figure out if the other was telling the truth.

The lack of noise was deafening. The sound of Caleb's light breathing was so overpowering in the still air that it was almost too much for Hanna. But then again, the situation was all too much for her. And when things got too much, she went into panic mode.

"I think we should kiss."

Hanna had blurted the words out before she even knew what she was saying, and wished that she could take them back immediately. Now would be a great time for the ground to swallow her up whole.

"What?"

 _Oh God, what had she done?_ "I mean, because," She spotted Sean leaving the theatre out of the corner of her eye, "Because Sean's over there, and we should do something, you know. To be convincing." She figured that she'd subconsciously registered Sean a second earlier, and that her brain had gone into autopilot, prompting her to suggest the kiss. If she hadn't have known better, she could have sworn that Caleb was trying to supress a smile at her suggestion.

"He's looking this way," He warned, a definite sense of urgency in his voice, "Quick."

All at once, they both leaned in towards each other, her arms flung themselves around his neck, his hands went to her face, and their lips pressed together in a hard, desperate kiss. Sean had walked on and moved way past the car within the space of ten seconds, but their mouths kept moving against each other, and their tongues pushed their way past each other's lips, and Caleb's fingers tangled themselves in Hanna's long blonde hair as they forgot why they'd agreed to do this in the first place.

The kiss slowed down a little, but became deeper, more gentle, as Caleb captured Hanna's lips between his own over and over, his eyebrows furrowed in a combination of concentration and passion. Hanna would have been embarrassed when she moaned into his mouth a little too loudly if he hadn't done the same about ten seconds earlier. Without a second thought, Hanna swung one of her legs over the gearbox and shifted so that she was straddling Caleb's lap, not breaking the kiss once. She moved herself further forward and pressed her body flush against his as their little make out session turned heated once again.

As Hanna ran her hand up from Caleb's neck to his cheek, a loud bang on the car window startled them and they broke away from the kiss, panting heavily. Looking out of the window, they saw two amused looking teenage boys walking away from them, turning back every so often to snigger at the sight of the perplexed looking 'couple'.

Hanna and Caleb both shook their heads and focused their attention back on one another, laughing lightly. Hanna pressed her lips together, noting the strange mix of satisfaction and nervousness playing upon Caleb's features as she brought her head down to rest against his. "I think Sean's gone." She whispered against his lips.

Caleb smirked, "I think so."

* * *

The next time Hanna and Caleb saw each other was at school the following Monday. They had texted a little more than usual over the rest of the weekend – with two kisses after every message, of course – and things seemed to have returned to normal between the two of them. On this particular Monday, a very stressful morning involving more math than Hanna could take had left her feeling flustered and irritable, so she was more than happy when Caleb had turned up outside her class and offered to walk her to lunch.

After standing in line for an unreasonable amount of time for her usual plate of undercooked fries, Hanna slid down onto a seat at the lunch table where the rest of her friends were sitting, Caleb following soon after. She had barely had enough time to make her presence known when Alison started her interrogation, "So, what's with the little make out session that you two had in Caleb's car on Saturday?"

Spencer slapped Alison's arm, her eyes going wide at her friend's lack of a filter, "Ali! You weren't supposed to say anything to them!"

Hanna shifted awkwardly in her seat, her cheeks turning a bright shade of red. Caleb lowered his gaze to hide the fact that his were succumbing to the same fate, and pushed his fries around on his plate as he rolled his eyes at the ground.

"Sorry," Alison huffed out, before raising her eyebrows and smirking, "But I'm pretty sure they're both aware of the fact that it happened."

"How do you know about it?" Caleb asked Spencer, shaking his head, "Did you see us?"

Spencer bit her lip, "I might have done, sorry."

"Why would you tell Alison as if it was some exciting piece of gossip?!" Hanna shot back at her sourly, "You know that we're pretending to date, there's nothing new to talk about here."

"Han, Sean was long gone when I saw the two of you… you know. I saw his car driving away as I came out of the theatre." Spencer rubbed her forehead and grimaced as she saw Alison's smirk stretch even further across her face, "Sorry, I don't know why I felt the need to say that."

"Yeah well it doesn't matter," Hanna insisted, eyebrows knotted in anger, "We saw Sean, we kissed, and we _obviously_ had our eyes closed so we didn't know if he was gone or not and we carried on, ok?"

"Ok," Spencer held her hands up in resignation, "I'm sorry."

Hanna and Caleb both visibly relaxed into their seats at her apology, and reluctantly started picking at their food.

"Sounds like you were pretty into it though, I mean Hanna was on your lap Caleb-"

"Ali, enough!" Aria looked at her sternly as she spoke up for the first time. Her eyes were wide, silently letting her friend know that she had gone too far.

Alison rolled her eyes and stuck her fork into her salad grumpily, "Fine."

"But seriously, how is this whole pretend dating thing going with you two?" Emily interjected warily, trying to change the subject from the kiss, "I haven't heard you mention Sean lately, Han."

"It's going great," Caleb assured her before Hanna had the chance to speak, "Just as we'd planned."

"And it hasn't prompted any, you know… feelings between the two of you?" Emily questioned, genuinely interested.

Hanna and Caleb turned to look at each other, and once again tried to speak at the same time. Caleb let Hanna take this one.

"We've talked about it," She confirmed, "And we both agreed that we're friends and that's it. That's all we are to each other. Best friends."

Caleb couldn't help but feel a little upset at Hanna's words. He knew what she was going to say, and he would have said exactly the same to their friends, but somehow he'd still held a tiny bit of hope that she would have revealed some sort of feelings towards him on a whim. Despite his sadness, he nodded in agreement, "Best friends." No matter what, he knew that Hanna would always be his friend, always.

Hanna smiled back at him and took his hand in hers, gripping it tightly as she rested her head on his shoulder for a second. Caleb wished she'd have kept it there for longer; it felt so natural to have her cuddled up against him, and his shoulder somehow felt cold at the loss of contact. He was glad that their fingers remained intertwined throughout the rest of the lunch break, though.

As the bell rang, signalling that they should return to class, the group of friends all stood and began making their way to their lockers. Caleb followed Hanna to hers first as he always did when she had biology; he knew that her textbook was extra heavy for that class and felt the need to carry it for her to spare her the bother of doing so.

"You know, I've been thinking," Hanna mused as they strode down the hallway, "We probably aren't actually doing a very good job at this 'pretending to be together' thing at all."

"What do you mean?" Caleb enquired as they reached her locker, and he absentmindedly entered her combination for her.

Hanna smiled gratefully before turning her attention back to the conversation, "I mean, we don't actually know when Sean is watching us, do we? He could be hiding behind a door spying on us right now."

"Hiding?" Caleb laughed, Hanna's biology textbook now in his arms, "I don't think he's that obsessed Han."

"I wouldn't put it past him," She retorted, pushing her locker to a close, "And who knows how many of his 'gang members' are hanging around these hallways. He's friends with _everyone_ , Caleb. For all we know, that guy over there," She pointed at a random junior heading into a classroom, "Could be on his way to tell Sean that we're not acting like a couple right now."

"I guess you're right…" Caleb started, unsure of what she was getting at.

"I am right," She assured him.

He stared at her, waiting for an explanation. "So?" He questioned when he didn't get one.

"So, we should act more like a couple all the time, and not just when we're around Sean. Well, when we're in school, I mean."

 _Great_ , Caleb thought. _This is going to make my feelings for her go away faster_. Though he knew that it would make things a lot harder for him, he couldn't help but feel excited about the prospect of getting to hold hands with, hug, kiss Hanna whenever he felt like it throughout the school day. And the excited part of his brain apparently won over the rest of it. "Definitely," He agreed.

Hanna's face lit up at his response, but then fell to a neutral expression almost immediately in an attempt to try and hide her excitement. The thought that Hanna could be excited about the idea of the two of them kissing gave Caleb some hope that one day, maybe, she could feel the same way that he did.

"Great," She replied nonchalantly, "So…"

"So we just, do stuff like this?" Caleb asked tentatively, taking Hanna's hand in his free one, "Even though Sean isn't around?"

Hanna looked down at their joined hands, then up at his face, smiling.

"Yeah, exactly like that," She said with a big grin, "And we could even do this." She shuffled in closer to his side, and pulled her hand from his so that she could wrap her arm around his back. He beamed down at her, and then reached his arm up to wrap around her shoulder, pressing a kiss to the top of her head.

"I like this," He whispered down at her with a smirk, "I mean, hypothetically."

Caleb could feel her body shake with laughter against him as they started walking towards his locker. "I like this hypothetically too," She agreed.

Once they were at Caleb's locker, Hanna reached her hand out to put in his combination for him, just as he had done for her. "We're already a pretty good fake couple," She remarked in a hushed tone, just in case anyone was listening, "I mean, we know each other's combinations and everything."

"We're the best," Caleb agreed as he untangled himself from Hanna, rummaging through his backpack and retrieving a textbook, which he proceeded to throw into his locker in exchange for a different one. She was watching his every move intently.

"What?" He asked, laughing a little as he noticed how closely she was following his actions, not missing the little smile that was tugging at the corner of her lips as he finished pushing the book into his backpack.

"Nothing," She smirked, though he could tell that she was definitely mulling _something_ over.

Her next words confirmed his suspicions, "Just thinking about how we can also do stuff like this."

Before he could register what was happening, Hanna had stepped forward and closed the gap between them, gently pressing her lips against his for just second. She pulled back from the kiss, though not too far, in order to look into his eyes and gage his reaction. No words were necessary as Caleb cupped her cheek with the palm of his hand, bringing her lips back to his in a kiss that was maybe airing a little on the inappropriate side for a school hallway interaction. Not that either of them cared, really. They were both too caught up on how good the other's lips felt against theirs.

"We can definitely do stuff like that," Caleb breathed heavily, his forehead resting against Hanna's after their kiss had eventually come to an end, "I mean, to be more convincing."

"Oh yeah," Hanna agreed, a little out of breath herself, "That would definitely convince a few people."

Caleb reached his hand up to run the pad of his thumb along Hanna's bottom lip, tracing its path intently with his stare. When his thumb came to a still, he lifted his gaze to meet hers, and could have sworn that he saw a hopeful glint in her eyes.

* * *

 **And there you have a long overdue chapter five, I hope it was worth the wait! I'm pretty sure that I have the next five or so chapters of this fic planned out in my head, so I shouldn't take too long to update in the coming weeks. As always, your reviews are very much appreciated, and thank you for all of the lovely ones left on the last chapter too x**


	6. Chapter Six

**A (kinda) quick update in celebration of all of the Haleb goodness that we shall be graced with tonight. Not gonna lie, I'm excited for the next couple of chapters of this fic. Some good things may or may not happen. Spoiler alert: they will.**

 **Guest ~ In terms of good Haleb fics, anything by silenceeverything is a must read (my personal fave is Restraints of Renown but all of them are amazing)! My current favourite fic is Tortured Dolls by aBeautifulLiar, it's so sad and heartbreaking but so beautifully written. I also love Leather and Silk by SereneCalamity, The First Person by Atramea, and Never Let You Go by hookedgirl. There are probably a bunch more that I've forgotten, but those are the first ones that spring to mind.**

 **Enjoy chapter six!**

* * *

Chapter Six

* * *

Hanna was supposed to be dissecting a rat, but she could think of three very good reasons not to. First off, she hated biology. She was going to ask to drop the class, anyway. Secondly, the rat was big and ugly and it smelt _really_ bad. Not Hanna Marin's kind of thing. And last but not least, she was texting Caleb Rivers. No explanation necessary.

 _Hey, my parents are away this weekend so I have a free house. How does pizza and a movie on Saturday night sound? xx_

Hanna held her phone on her lap under the lab bench as she tapped her foot on the floor, anxiously awaiting his reply to her suggestion. Her mom had given her the news about her business trip via text at the beginning of the class, and Hanna's first thought after gaining the knowledge that her house would be free for two days was to invite Caleb over. A little less than twenty seconds had passed when her phone screen lit up.

 _As long as I get to choose the movie, I'm in xx_

She smiled to herself before replying.

 _Good :) And I promise, you can choose the movie this time. No more chick flicks xx_

Hanna brought her elbow up to rest on the bench, and leant her head in her hand. She couldn't help the wide grin that was plastered across her face at the thought of spending the weekend alone with her favourite person.

"Whose messages are making you smile like _that_?"

Hanna turned her head sharply to face her friend as Emily's words brought her out of her little reverie. She'd almost forgotten that she had a lab partner, or that she was in a lab at all, for that matter. "I'm uh, I'm just texting my mom," She stuttered, giving Emily a nervous smile.

Emily quirked an eyebrow at her, "You're smiling that much because of a text from your mom?"

"Yeah, she bought me a tub of the ice cream I like," Hanna reasoned, nodding her head.

"I thought they discontinued-"

Hanna slammed her hand down on the table, interrupting Emily. "They un-discontinued it, ok?" She shot back.

"Ok... Whatever you say." Emily laughed and held her hands up in resignation as she sunk back into her seat, though the smirk on her face told a different story all together. "Tell Caleb I say hi by the way."

"I wi-" Hanna paused mid-sentence and gave Emily a disapproving stare as she realised what she'd just done. Her will to scold, however, was diminished when she once again saw the screen of her phone light up.

"Is that him again?" Emily mocked, lightly.

Hanna rolled her eyes in response. Though she'd been secretly hoping that it was Caleb again, this time Emily was wrong. "No, it's Spence actually."

"Sure…"

"Shut up," Hanna slapped Emily's arm lightly, but her attention was now firmly focused on the phone that was still dubiously 'hidden' on her lap as she read her text from Spencer.

 _Could you please do me the biggest favor ever? Pretty please?_

Hanna didn't even hesitate before she replied.

 _Sure, what is it?_

She looked around the room quickly in order to check that her lab professor wasn't lurking close by; she really didn't feel like having her phone confiscated for the third time that week. Once she was certain that she wasn't going to get caught, she looked back down at her cell.

 _So, my mom is getting suspicious of Toby and I. I think she knows we're dating._

Hanna couldn't help but feel sorry for her friend - things really hadn't been easy for Spencer and Toby, having to keep their relationship a secret and all.

 _Oh God, really? Has she said something to you?_

 _No, but I can tell._

Hanna furrowed her eyebrows in confusion.

 _How?_

She knew that Spencer was intuitive, but this was going into mind-reading territory.

 _She kinda set me up._

Ah, that made more sense. Classic Veronica Hastings move.

 _On a date?_

 _Yeah, and she kinda set Toby up too._

Hanna laughed to herself. The Hastings always found a way of getting exactly what they wanted, no matter whose lives they had to interject to get it.

 _How did she set Toby up?!_

 _Remember Angus?_

Hanna definitely remembered Angus – he'd become the butt of a lot of jokes within their friendship group ever since Spencer's mom had tried to set him up with Spencer the first time, even though none of them had actually met him.

 _Country club Angus?_

 _Yeah, well turns out Angus has a sister._

 _I see._

 _My parents think it would be a great idea for me to go on a double date with Angus and his sister tonight, and for Toby to be his sister's date._

Uh oh. Hanna didn't like where this was going. She sighed before sending her next reply.

 _And so the favor that you're asking me is?_

She knew what was coming before the message even arrived.

 _Would you pretty please go on the date instead of me?_

 _What, no! Spence, they'll know that I'm not you._

Hanna instantly felt guilty for saying no; she hated disappointing her friends, and knew that Spencer would do anything for her, but it just didn't feel right to agree to the plan.

 _I've never met either of them before, I promise they won't know. And if anyone ever finds out, I'll take all the blame, I swear._

She could tell that Spencer was really getting desperate now – she almost never offered to take the blame for a plan going wrong – but Hanna still couldn't bring herself to agree.

 _Spence I don't think that's a good idea._

She didn't want to be a horrible friend, she really didn't, but she also really didn't want to go on a fake date with some guy that she didn't know. Or any guy, for that matter. She somehow felt like she'd be betraying Caleb, which was _ridiculous_ , because they weren't even together. Spencer wasn't going to give up without a fight, though.

 _But me and Toby had plans tonight :(_

 _Spence!_

 _You're the only person I know who is single and free tonight, please Han, I'm begging you, I really don't want to go on a date when I already have a boyfriend…_

Hanna crinkled her nose up. Why was she being like this? She and Caleb weren't even together, she had no reason to say no, really. A heavy sigh left her body as she finally gave in.

 _Fine._

Spencer's grateful reply made her feel a little better about her decision.

 _Thank you thank you thank you thank you! You're the best Han xxxx_

Hanna huffed, leaving her phone to sit on her lap as she buried her head in her hands. Soon after, she heard the tell-tale sound of heavy footsteps approaching from behind her, and gingerly looked up to see her lab professor standing right beside her.

"Phone please, Miss Marin."

Rolling her eyes, Hanna grabbed her phone and grumpily shoved it out towards the older woman, who took it with a smug smirk on her face. "Thank you, you may collect it at the end of the day."

Hanna already knew what was coming when Alison, who was sitting at the lab bench directly in front of her, leaned back with a big grin plastered across her face. "What's Lover Boy gonna do for an hour now that his girlfriend doesn't have a phone?"

* * *

The date, Spencer had informed her, was to take place at a small Italian restaurant called 'Sorrentino's' just around the corner from where Hanna lived. She'd been there a bunch of times with her parents before they'd split up, and now every time she passed by it she was left with a sort of empty feeling in her chest. Another reason for which she was absolutely dreading this dinner.

Despite her reservations, Hanna applied a final swipe of subtle nude lipstick across her full lips as she stared at her reflection in her bedroom mirror. Even though she didn't have anyone to impress, or at least anyone that she _wanted_ to impress that night, she had still felt the need to pick out an outfit that would make anybody that saw her do a double-take. Her body was adorned by a black, knee-length dress, with a long slit up the side and a low neckline. Her shoes were black too, strappy heels that were just high enough to make her tanned legs look that little bit longer. Her hair was down, and fell around her shoulders in loose waves that framed her perfectly made up face. _Not too shabby for a last minute outfit_ , she thought to herself, smoothing her dress down with the back of her hand.

Grabbing her keys from her nightstand, Hanna made her way down the stairs and out of the house, making sure to lock the door behind her. Her mom was working late that evening, so thankfully she didn't have to explain the situation to her.

After a short walk, Hanna approached the front of the all too familiar restaurant, only to be greeted by the sight of an all too familiar face. She scrunched her features up in confusion, closing the distance between herself and the building at an increasingly fast pace. "Caleb?"

At the sound of both her voice and her heels clicking against the pavement, Caleb turned to face Hanna, looking just as confused as she did. He was simply wearing jeans and a white shirt, but his black dinner jacket and the way that his hair was just a little bit tousled made him look good, _really_ good. Well Hanna thought so anyway.

"What are you doing here?!" She questioned, suddenly feeling nervous at the thought of Caleb asking her the same thing.

Caleb scratched the back of his head in response, shuffling his feet before looking down at the ground. "I, uh…"

Hanna raised her eyebrows at him, "Are you going on a date or something?"

Silence filled the air for just a second. "Well, yeah, but," Caleb fumbled as he looked back up at her.

Hanna didn't know why, but she felt hurt by his words. She had been feeling guilty all day just because she was going on a fake date that wasn't with him, and here he was going on a _real_ one without a care in the world.

"I'm doing it as a favour to Toby," Caleb sighed when he noticed Hanna's sad pout, interrupting her trail of thought, "Spencer's parents tried to set them both up, so I said I'd go instead of him and-"

"I know," Hanna interrupted him, secretly relieved that he was there for the same reason as her, "That's why I'm here too." She felt the need to expand when Caleb looked at her with his eyebrows furrowed in confusion, "I'm here to go on a date with the guy that Spencer was supposed to go on a date with."

"Ah," Caleb nodded, finally understanding.

"Yeah, I don't know why it didn't click in my head that Toby was gonna ask you to take his place, of course he was gonna ask you." Hanna was pacing back and forth now, clearly stressed by the idea of being on a double date with Caleb, but not _with_ Caleb.

"It won't be _that_ bad, right?" He tried to reassure her, smiling gently as he put his hand on her shoulder to stop her pacing, "At least we're here with each other if these two are really boring."

Hanna laughed at that, "Oh I can guarantee you that they'll be boring," She paused, and her face fell slightly, "I just don't really feel like going on a date."

Caleb's gaze met hers, as the conversation turned serious all of a sudden. "Why not?"

Hanna opened her mouth to say something, but then paused, unsure of what she really wanted to tell him. Before she could decide, a definitively overdressed guy and smug looking girl approached them from the other side of the road, both waving enthusiastically with big fake grins plastered across their faces.

"Hi! I'm Angus, and this is my sister Teresa. You must be Spencer," The boy guessed, holding his hand out to shake Hanna's once he was close enough to do so. She returned the handshake reluctantly, nodding in false confirmation as Angus turned to face Caleb. "And you must be Toby, right? Mrs Hastings said you'd be waiting for us outside the restaurant."

Caleb smirked a little as Angus shook his hand too, "Yeah, that's right."

After her brother had stepped back from Caleb, Teresa wasted no time before moving in close to her date for the evening and taking one of his hands between hers, clasping it in front of her. "Lovely to meet you," She beamed up at him.

But Caleb wasn't paying attention to Teresa. All he could pay attention to was the sad stare that Hanna was giving him as she entered the restaurant, one of Angus' hands on the small of her back.

* * *

The dinner was going by slowly. _Really_ slowly. After over two hours of stunted conversation throughout the first two courses, both Hanna and Caleb desperately didn't want to stay for dessert. But Angus insisted, because apparently, they had the most wonderful dessert spread he'd ever laid his eyes upon.

The only positive part of the night so far had been their seating positions; Hanna was of course opposite Angus and Caleb opposite Teresa, given that they were technically on dates, but Hanna and Caleb were on the same side of the table, which made them both feel just a little more comfortable. It also made it a lot easier to listen in on each other's conversations, which both of them often found themselves doing rather than paying attention to the person opposite them.

Halfway through a particularly riveting story, which Hanna was _totally_ listening to, Angus stood up from his seat and tucked his chair in. "I'm just going to visit the restroom quickly, if that's alright with you Spencer?" He asked politely.

Hanna hesitated for a second before replying – she still wasn't used to being called Spencer. "Sure, whatever," She nodded as she waved a hand out in front of her, a little relieved to have been offered a break from his overpowering company. After Angus had nodded back and headed off to the restroom, Hanna couldn't help but listen in on the conversation that Caleb and Teresa were having, all the while pretending to be engrossed in the dessert menu.

"Forgive me if I've already told you this tonight," Teresa giggled, winding a string of her long, dark hair around her finger, "But you look very handsome in that shirt, Toby."

Hanna almost gagged at how sickly sweet and completely obvious she was being.

Smiling nervously, Caleb looked at Hanna, noted her unimpressed expression, and then turned back to Teresa before replying, "Thanks, uh, Teresa."

Hanna couldn't help but feel a pang of jealousy as Caleb accepted the girl's compliment. _Calm down Hanna_ , she thought to herself, _it's not like they're getting married, she just complimented his shirt. She doesn't even know his real name_. Before she could stop herself, Hanna crossed one leg over the other and stuck her foot out until she felt it meet Caleb's calf, then began to run it slowly up and down the leg of his jeans. Caleb's head shot down at the contact and he jumped in his seat, startling the girl sitting in front of him.

"Are you okay?" Teresa asked, concerned at his sudden movement.

Caleb cleared his throat before speaking, giving himself some time to think of an excuse. "Yeah I'm fine, I'm good. I uh- I just had an itch on my leg." He shot his head round to look at Hanna and gave her an only half-serious glare, whilst simultaneously scratching the non-existent itch on his calf. Hanna smirked in response, fully satisfied with the reaction that she had managed to evoke from him.

By this time Angus had re-emerged from the restroom, and walked back up to the table with a cheesy grin plastered across his face. "I'm back, nobody worry!" He joked, prompting a laugh from Teresa, whilst Hanna and Caleb remained completely straight-faced. "So, what were we talking about?"

"Oh, nothing really," Teresa assured him, before turning to face Caleb and giving him an obvious wink.

Angus clearly wasn't paying attention to anything that his sister was saying, though, "You know what we should talk about? That awful man at the club dinner last weekend."

The siblings broke out into excessive laughter, Teresa wiping at her eyes to get rid of tears that weren't _actually_ there before she spoke, "Oh Spencer, Toby, you must hear this story! So Angus and I were invited to a club dinner last weekend…"

"And this man turns up," Angus continued, "At first you think he's totally normal, but then…"

The two of them began to laugh again, and Hanna turned to Caleb with raised eyebrows. Caleb discreetly rolled his eyes in response. Angus continued on with his story, but it was clear that Hanna wasn't listening by the way that her eyes were glazed over, so Caleb decided to have a little fun by bumping his foot against hers under the table. Hanna grinned to herself at the contact.

Thinking that she was smiling at his story, Angus began to speak with even more enthusiasm, "It was terrible, just ridiculous! I told my mother, that man is never setting foot in here again!"

Hanna didn't even notice his increase in pace and volume as she bumped her foot back against Caleb's, prompting him to bite his lip before hooking his foot around her ankle and swaying their adjoined legs back and forth.

 _What are we doing?_ Hanna thought to herself, _are we actually playing footsie?_ Whatever they were doing, she was grateful for the distraction.

In an attempt to shake Caleb's foot from hers so that she could get him back, Hanna flung her leg up a little too hard and kneed the underside of the table, making it jolt so much that Caleb's fork fell onto the floor.

"What was that?" Angus asked, clearly not impressed by the fact that his story had been interrupted.

"Sorry, got a little overexcited and hit my knee on the table," Hanna smiled innocently, "Must be all the sodas."

"And now my dessert fork is on the floor," Caleb said with a huff, although the smile playing upon his lips told Hanna that he really didn't mind at all.

Both Hanna and Caleb leant down to reach for the fork, and not realising that the other was doing so, grabbed onto opposite ends of the piece of cutlery. Their fingers were touching as they brought the fork back up to the table, and they simultaneously looked down to stare at their almost joined hands. Nobody spoke for what seemed like an eternity.

"Thanks," Caleb eventually mumbled, before finally breaking eye contact with Hanna and taking the fork with his other hand. Their fingers were still touching as they brought their hands back down to rest on Caleb's chair together, and they couldn't help but toy with each others fingertips as the waiter came over to take their dessert orders.

"I'll have a cappuccino, please," Angus announced, holding his menu up for the waiter to take as he nodded.

Teresa shook her head slowly as she pressed her lips together. "Nothing for me, thank you. I couldn't possibly fit anything else in."

Hanna pursed her lips before looking up from her menu with a thoughtful expression on her face. "I'll have the triple chocolate cheesecake please. With extra ice cream."

Caleb grinned to himself before he turned to look at Hanna, biting his lip to stop himself from smiling any wider.

"What?" She asked, inadvertently returning his smile.

"Nothing," Caleb assured her, running his thumb over the back of their semi-joined hands before he looked up at the waiter. "I'll have the same please."

The waiter nodded, scribbled Caleb's order down and then walked away, taking their menus with him. As expected, within five seconds, Angus had already ensured that he would be the next person at the table to speak.

"So, Spencer, are you free for dinner on Saturday?" He probed, looking Hanna dead in the eyes with a smug smile on his face. Caleb immediately slid his fingers in between Hanna's and squeezed her hand protectively, eliciting a grin from Hanna that she had to try hard to supress.

She clearly didn't do a very good job, though, as Angus noticed her expression, and once again mistakenly assumed that he was the cause of her happiness. "I'll take that as a yes then?" He asked, cockily.

"Sorry, Angus, I uh- I have to work this weekend," Hanna fumbled, running her free hand through her hair.

Angus obviously wasn't having any of it. "You work? Your parents said that you didn't have a job?"

Damn. Of course, she was 'Spencer'. Spencer didn't have a job _._ "Yeah uh, it's nothing big," She tried, "My parents don't know about it at all, actually." It was a longshot, but she was running out of ideas.

"Really? Because it sounds to me like you're making up excuses," Angus shot back, clearly getting annoyed. His face softened a little before he sighed, and reached across the table to take Hanna's hand in his. "Come on Spencer, I really like you, just give me a chance," He pleaded, sounding infinitely desperate. Hanna felt her heart start to beat a little faster as panic rose up through her body at his words – she hated being stuck in situations like this.

"Han- uh, Spencer I need to talk to you, now please," Caleb demanded, pulling Hanna up and out of her seat, leaving their dates sitting with dumbfounded looks on their faces. He led her by the hand across the restaurant and swiftly out of the back door; Hanna was pretty sure that it had a sign saying 'Staff Only' above it but she wasn't going to argue with him now, especially when he was getting her away from that very awkward situation with Angus.

Hanna sighed as she felt the coolness of the outside air hit her skin. "Caleb it's ok, I'm no-"

Without warning, Caleb cut Hanna off by pressing her up against the wall of the restaurant and smashing his lips against hers. She was taken aback at first but soon began to return the kiss eagerly, slipping her hands around his waist as one of his went to cup her cheek, the other pressed against the wall above her head. The kiss was intense from the get go; sloppy, needy, tongues pushing their way into mouths as gentle moans emanated from their throats. Caleb moved his hand from Hanna's face to run it up the smooth, warm skin of her thigh, hitching her dress up slightly in the process and prompting Hanna to whimper into his mouth. She ran one hand under his shirt and up over his chest in response, feeling his muscles twitch under her fingers.

After about five minutes of uninterrupted kissing, a harsh laugh broke the pair apart. "It's ok, it's not a break in! Just a couple of horny seventeen-year-olds who can't keep their hands off each other," A waiter shouted to someone behind him, before shaking his head at Hanna and Caleb and walking away.

"Hey, we're eighteen, actually!" Hanna retorted, though she couldn't quite shout as loudly as she'd have liked to due to her heavy breathing and the fact that she felt a little spaced out. Rolling her eyes when she got nothing in response, she turned to look back at Caleb, who was smiling down at her as he reached his hand out to pull her dress back into place.

"Thanks," Hanna whispered up at him, holding her bottom lip between her teeth.

* * *

 **Hmm, I can't quite decide whether I'm going to make something very exciting happen in the next chapter, or if I'm going to wait until chapter eight… we shall see. Reviews are always appreciated x**


	7. Chapter Seven

**I am a cruel person, and as of yet I haven't yet decided whether or not to leave the** _ **really**_ **exciting thing until the next chapter. Luckily, there should be just enough excitement in this chapter to hold you over if I decide to make you wait a little longer.**

 **Guest ~ Aside from Growth by silenceeverything, the only other 'Haleb with kids' fic that I can think of that I'm reading right now is Keep Hold of My Heart by Halebxxx, which is really cute. As for your other question, Caleb was in foster care in my story, but he's now eighteen and lives in his own apartment – I'll delve into that more in later chapters.**

 **Enjoy.**

* * *

Chapter Seven

* * *

A day passed. And then another day, and then another day. And then without warning most of the week had passed by in a flash – it was Saturday. And Saturday was the day that Hanna had invited Caleb over for a movie and pizza.

Not once in that flash of a week had the double date kiss been mentioned, the kiss that had unexpectedly swept Hanna off of her feet and left her in a daze that she was yet to recover from. When they'd returned to school the day after that fateful night, the 'in front of Sean' kissing had resumed, but none of those kisses had felt like the one from _that_ night. At least not to Hanna. The kiss that she remembered was passionate but gentle, loving but also somewhat needy, as if both of them had been waiting an eternity for that very moment to happen. Now, Hanna often found herself wondering if she'd have to wait an eternity for it to happen again.

Their interactions in school felt empty in comparison. And not knowing Caleb's true intentions, or desires, or thoughts, was making Hanna feel just a little uneasy.

This very feeling of uneasiness was prevalent in Hanna's mind when her alarm went off at eleven o'clock on that Saturday morning. Her mom would have slandered her for waking up that late in the day, but being home alone meant that she could be as lazy as she pleased, which in Hanna's case was often _very_ lazy. Not that'd she'd actually been able to sleep up until eleven o'clock on that particular morning, anyway. She'd found herself wide awake at eight-thirty – far too early for her liking – her brain occupied by thoughts of her best friend. He was supposed to be just that and only that, her best friend. So why was she still so caught up on that kiss?

Finally accepting the fact that she wasn't going to fall back to sleep, Hanna slammed her palm down on top of her pastel pink alarm clock and sat upright with a groan. She pushed her hands up over her face and through her the roots of her hair, tightening the messy bun that had come somewhat undone during the night. "What. Is. Your. Problem?" She berated herself aloud, punctuating each word with a light slap of her hand against her forehead.

Deciding that she needed to do something to placate her over-active brain, Hanna reached out to grab her phone and opened her messages, immediately pulling up her conversation with Caleb. He hadn't text her yet that day, which wasn't unusual considering the fact that he was usually guilty of getting up even later than Hanna was at weekends. She bit her lip as she quickly typed out a message to him and pressed send.

 _Are you busy? xx_

He wasn't supposed to be coming over until the evening, but Hanna found herself missing his company even though they'd spent the whole of the previous day at school together. There was something different about being around him when they were alone though, something that she couldn't quite put her finger on. She just knew that she liked it. A lot.

Caleb's reply came surprisingly quickly, considering that she thought he'd still be asleep.

 _No I'm not busy, why? xx_

Her mouth inadvertently broke out into a wide grin at his reply. She had an inkling that even if he was busy, he'd still have made time for her.

 _Meet me at the convenience store by your place in an hour. We can buy supplies for tonight xx_

Knowing that he would agree to her plans, Hanna jumped up out of bed and opened her closet doors in order to begin the search for an appropriate outfit for the day. She always took great care in picking out clothes for any occasion, but there was something about being around Caleb that made her want to look _really_ good, ever better than usual. That hadn't happened since she'd first started dating Sean, when she felt pressured to live up to his high standards, and embarrassed when he made any sort of comment about her appearance not quite being up to scratch. That wasn't the case at all with Caleb, though. He never once mentioned her appearance in a negative manner, and never failed to tell her how beautiful she looked almost every time they saw each other. He never once made her feel like she had to look good for him, it was totally her choice.

Her eyes continually scanned over the numerous jumpers, shirts, and jeans that adorned her closet until they landed on a white lace romper that she'd purchased last summer, but never worn before. The weather was finally starting to get warmer as the months moved into April, and Hanna couldn't think of a better choice for today's outfit. It was simple but cute, and looked like she'd made an effort, but not gone over the top. After all, they were only going food shopping.

Having taken a shower and changed into the romper that she'd picked out, Hanna towel dried her hair a little and left the rest to air dry – it fell in loose waves around her face if she did it that way. She applied natural looking makeup, but finished it off with a bring red lipstick for a little pop of colour, and then slipped her feet into her favourite pair of strappy sandals. She hummed in contentment as she surveyed her appearance in the mirror, grabbing her favourite red shoulder bag and her phone before shoving her lipstick in her purse and heading downstairs. As she reached the front door, her phone buzzed in her hand and she looked down to see that she'd just received a message from Caleb.

 _I'll be there in five xx_

* * *

Hanna all but skipped to the convenience store – she was in a surprisingly good mood considering the fact that she'd woken up less then an hour ago, and it usually took her at least three to come out of her morning stupor. Spotting Caleb, who was standing in front of the shop looking down at his phone, Hanna weaved her way through a small crowd of people ambling their way down the street and snuck up behind him. She smiled to herself at the knowledge that she'd managed to get there without Caleb noticing her, before throwing her arms around his waist and pushing herself up against his back.

He jumped slightly at the contact, but soon relaxed as he heard a familiar giggle rise up from behind him. "Han?"

Hanna stood up on her tiptoes to whisper triumphantly in his ear, her giddiness evident in her voice, "Hi."

She pulled away from him as he turned to face her, shaking his head and running a hand through his hair. "Hey," He smiled back at her, looking her up and down, "You scared the crap outta me."

Their gazes met as they both chuckled lightly, and Hanna could swear that she saw his eyes flicker down to her lips quickly, but she couldn't be sure whether it had actually happened or if it was just wishful thinking. Since when was she _wishing_ for Caleb to kiss her?

Caleb took a deep breath in, intercepting her trail of thought. "After you," He prompted as he gestured his hand out towards the entrance of the store.

Hanna shot him a grateful smile, walking through the glass door that Caleb was now holding open for her and into the small shop. She checked that he was following behind her, before heading straight over to her favourite aisle – candy.

"So what kind of supplies were you thinking?" Caleb enquired, figuring out the answer for himself as he saw the mass of brightly coloured chocolate bars that she was approaching.

Hanna looked up at him with her lips pursed. "Ice cream, candy, just stuff to go with the pizza we're gonna order," She shrugged nonchalantly.

He laughed lightly, "So more food to go with our food?"

"Exactly," She confirmed with a nod and a small grin.

Chuckling, Caleb reached out to pick up a bag of sour skittles, turning them over in his hands a couple of times before he spoke up. "These are your favourites, right?"

Hanna broke her gaze away from the selection of chocolate that she was surveying to find out what Caleb was talking about. "Right," She confirmed as she noticed the small green packet packet in his hands, trying to suppress the look of sheer glee that threatened to grace her face at the knowledge that he remembered little things like that about her. She loved that he genuinely paid attention to what she said, because Hanna knew herself that she could ramble a _lot_ , and often wondered if anyone actually bothered to listen to her half of the time. It was nice knowing that Caleb did.

 _Not even five minutes and you're already thinking about him like_ _ **that**_ _again. Great job Han._

Hanna decided that she was done with mentally scolding herself; she was done with constantly thinking, wondering about what had been and about what could be. And as she picked up a packet of candy that she knew was _his_ favourite, she blurted out a question that she'd been itching to ask for almost a week now.

"Why did you kiss me?"

It took Caleb a second to realise that she was talking to him, but when he did, he turned to face Hanna slowly with a confused look on his face. "What?" He asked, furrowing his eyebrows. They'd kissed a lot of times before, as a result of _her_ plan in fact, and so he wasn't entirely sure what she was trying to get at.

"The other day, at that dinner," She continued. Caleb bit down on his bottom lip as the realisation suddenly dawned upon him, before Hanna spoke up again, "Why did you kiss me?"

Her voice was full of nerves, yet firm at the same time, and Caleb could tell that he wasn't going to get away with giving her a half-hearted answer. He cleared his throat and looked down at the packet of candy in his hands, taking a deep breath before he spoke. "We kiss all the time Han," He mumbled, finally daring to meet her gaze.

Hanna's eyes looked desperate, as if they were pleading him for an actual answer, the answer that they both knew she wanted to hear. "Caleb," She started, "You know that kiss wasn't like the others." Caleb saw her throat move slightly as she clearly tried to swallow her nerves. "There was nobody else around and it felt… different." She added, her eyes boring into his.

"That guy was a jerk," Caleb tried, "I could see that you were uncomfortable and I uh, I wanted to get you out of there."

Hanna rolled her eyes, though more out of tiredness than aggravation. "That still doesn't explain the kiss."

He shrugged his shoulders, "I guess I was hoping that he'd see us, you know, and give up on asking you out." Caleb slowly averted his gaze to the floor as the words fell from his mouth, and even though he wasn't looking at Hanna anymore, he could imagine the look of annoyance, disappointment, whatever it was on her face.

They both knew that he wasn't telling the whole truth, yet Hanna decided to accept his reasoning anyway. She clearly wasn't going to get any other answer out of him right now, and maybe that was for the best. "Ok," She exhaled, "Let's go find the ice cream and get out of here." Hands full of candy bars, she strutted forward towards the frozen aisle, knowing full well that Caleb would be trailing behind her. As she neared her destination, she felt the telltale signs of tears gathering at the corners of her eyes before one dropped down her reddened cheek. She swiped at it quickly with her thumb before Caleb could notice.

* * *

"And for our final movie we have," Caleb rummaged around in Hanna's DVD box before holding out two distinctly different movies for her to choose from, "Saw Three, or Friends with Benefits." He pursed his lips before raising his eyebrows at her, already knowing in his heart what her answer would be. They'd just finished watching their third movie of the evening, and so far not one of them had been his choice. Not that he really minded.

Hanna waved her hands out in front of her as she swallowed the bite of chewy candy in her mouth. "No way, I am not watching Saw Three," She shot back at him, "It has to be Friends with Benefits."

He raised his eyebrows at her defiance, "It has to be?"

"Yes," She replied simply, nodding once in confirmation.

Caleb was grinning now, "And why's that?" He took a step forward and moved in closer to Hanna, who was now biting her lip as she curled her knees up onto the couch. She'd changed into a slouchy sweater and a pair of denim shorts soon after they'd ordered the pizza – white and tight didn't go well with dough and tomato sauce and cheese.

"Because I said so," She smirked, reaching out quickly to snatch both of the DVDs from his hands. "And also because I'm gonna have nightmares if you make me watch a movie that has the word 'saw' in the title."

Caleb shook his head and grinned widely as he leaned over her, one hand on the back of the couch to hold him up as the other hovered Hanna's middle. "You are such. A. Diva." He declared, poking at her stomach lightly with each word, which sent Hanna into a fit of giggles.

"I am not!" She shrieked defiantly, as Caleb attempted to grab the DVDs back from her during her moment of weakness. He jumped on the couch next to her, continuing his mission to pry the items from her hands; the sound of Hanna's laughter now filled the room as his body almost completely covered hers. Thinking quickly, she wrapped one of her legs around his waist and pushed him down, flipping them over so that she was now sitting on top of his stomach, straddling him. She threw 'Saw Three' behind the couch and waited for it to land with a gentle clatter before holding the other DVD out to Caleb, who grinned up at her with an amused look on his face.

"Friends with Benefits it is then," He sighed, feigning annoyance.

Hanna giggled and shrugged her shoulders, "Guess so," She chirped, playing along for a second before she registered what he's said and felt her stomach flip a little.

 _Friends with benefits. Well, there's a phrase that could have more than one meaning in our situation_ , she thought to herself.

Caleb broke the short silence that had filled the room by grabbing the chosen DVD from her hands. "You gonna let me up so I can put it in?" He smirked up at her.

Hanna looked a little shaken at his comment, "Put what in?"

Caleb couldn't help but laugh at the expression on her face, "Uh, the disc?"

 _The disc, obviously. Idiot._ "Oh right, yeah," She bit her lip, clearly embarrassed if the furious blush on her cheeks was anything to go by.

Chuckling, Caleb shook his head as Hanna climbed off of him and stood to the side of the couch, chewing on her thumb. She watched intently whilst he walked over and slid the disc into the DVD player, before deciding to settle herself under the blanket on the couch again.

"You know, you're the only person I know who still watches actual DVDs," He quipped as he walked back over to Hanna and she held the blanket up for him to get under, "What happened to Netflix?"

"I told you," She rolled her eyes whilst he made himself comfortable next to her, "My mom cancelled my subscription because I didn't turn in my last two science projects, and she's changed all the passwords on the TV so I can't buy movies there either."

Caleb laughed lightly, "Why am I not surprised?" He slipped his arm around Hanna's back and pulled her into him, so that her head was resting upon his chest. The position felt so natural, and she couldn't help but grin up at him as he smiled back down at her.

Though she attempted to focus her attention on the movie as it began, all that Hanna could bring herself to think about was how good it felt to be curled up into the side of Caleb's warm body.

Unbeknown to her, all he could think about for the _entirety_ of the movie was how soft her skin felt as he stroked her arm, how soft her lips looked, how soft he _knew_ they were, how soft her gaze was whenever she looked up at him… Wait, she was looking up at him.

From her position on his chest, Hanna could feel his heartbeat start to race a little against her cheek. "You okay?" She murmured up at him, genuine concern in her voice.

"Yeah, I'm good," He smiled, licking his lips as he noticed how dry they'd become.

"Really?" She challenged, raising her eyebrows at him, "Your heart is racing."

Caleb looked a little embarrassed, though not surprised. "It is?"

"Yeah," She confirmed as she placed her hand on his chest where her head had previously been, her voice turning to a whisper all of a sudden, "Really fast."

Turning her attention from where her hand was to Caleb's eyes, Hanna found that he was already looking at her with an intense stare that left her wondering what he was thinking about.

"I can't do this anymore," He declared in a whisper, as if reading her thoughts.

Hanna's heart skipped a beat at his words.

She cleared her throat. "Do what?" Her voice was so quiet that she wasn't sure if he had heard her, until she noticed his lips parting as if he was about to speak. She could feel her heart rate begin to increase until she was sure that it was even faster than his was, and their eyes bored further into each other than she ever imagined possible.

And then, with no warning other than a flicker of his eyes towards her lips, Caleb's mouth was on hers and they were kissing.

It was deep, it was passionate, it was everything that they'd both been wanting and needing for longer than they'd even known. Hanna's hand reached up to cup his cheek as Caleb moaned hoarsely into her mouth, sending shivers down her spine and prompting her to press her body further into his. But the contact wasn't enough, and soon Caleb had snaked his arms around her waist to bring her onto his lap, still under the fleece blanket, still kissing him with everything that she was worth.

Their desperation was evident in every lip bite, every flash of tongue, every moment of the kiss, and Hanna hoped and wished that he could tell how long she'd wanted this for. Caleb's hands were now on her thighs under the material that was twisted around their laps, rubbing slowly up and down her warm skin as her arms went around his neck and her body melted into his. One of her hands founds its way up into his hair in an attempt to anchor him even closer – no matter how hard she tried, no level of close proximity felt satisfying enough to her at that moment. She wanted to feel every part of Caleb, and for him to feel every part of her.

She didn't know what this meant, this kiss, whatever they were doing. But she knew that things were going to be different from now on.

Hanna and Caleb both pulled pack, both breathless, both resting their foreheads against the others as they tried to bring themselves back to reality for just a second. The room was completely silent aside from the gentle sound of their laboured breathing, until Caleb broke the quietude with a whispered confession.

"I can't be around you and pretend that I don't want to kiss you. That's what I can't do anymore."

* * *

 **Soooo… they just kissed for reals, they're all alone in Hanna's house, who knows what could happen next? Wink wink. And just incase you hadn't figured it out already, I left the** _ **really**_ **good thing for chapter eight. Reviews are always appreciated x**


	8. Chapter Eight

**Apologies for the slow update, and most likely for future slow updates – I'm back at university now and the workload is hitting me hard. I think you'll all enjoy this chapter though, so enjoy! (Warning: lots of smut ahead).**

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Chapter Eight

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Hanna felt like possibly, maybe, her heart was about to beat right out of her chest. But it couldn't do that, not right now, because she'd just heard the words that she'd been waiting to hear for her own version of an eternity.

Caleb felt the same way that she did.

She hadn't fully allowed herself to accept that she wanted something more than just a friendship from him until this moment, but with her legs wrapped around his waist and her forehead pressed against his, Hanna couldn't quite figure out how she'd managed to silence her mind for so long.

The room had become accustomed to the deafening silence by now, and as she felt Caleb's heartbeat begin to quicken under her fingertips, Hanna realised that she should probably fathom a response to his confession. She lifted her gaze to meet his; as the the tearful relief in her eyes met with the doubt in his, her hand moved up and landed on his cheek in an attempt to reassure him, an attempt that she realised had been successful when she registered the tight smile that Caleb's lips had pressed themselves into.

Clouds of insecurity shifted from his eyes as he reached his hand to catch a tear that had fallen from Hanna's, and he finally allowed himself to give into his desires.

They barely had to move for their lips to be joined once again, but when they did, both Hanna and Caleb felt the immediate warmth, fire, spread through their bodies and ignite them.

Their close proximity was intoxicating; hands running, probing, feeling wherever and whatever they could at a pace that felt almost desperate, like time was running out for the both of them. But it wasn't enough for Hanna, who slid herself further onto Caleb's lap as their mouths moved against each other, until her chest was flush against his. He moaned hoarsely at her movement, though certainly not in disapproval.

Periodic wisps of cool air hit Hanna's newly exposed skin as Caleb slowly, torturously began to run his hand under her loose-fitting sweater and up the smooth skin of her back, taking the soft material with it. When his hand reached her shoulders, Hanna instinctively held her arms up, encouraging Caleb to remove the clothing from her body so that she was left sitting in the lacy black bra that she _totally_ hadn't worn on purpose.

The moment of lost contact between their lips was too much for Hanna – she wrapped her hands around his neck and brought his mouth back to hers, though the new kiss didn't last for long as Caleb broke the embrace to trail his lips down the pale skin of her neck. Hanna's head was spinning and she couldn't help it when a long moan escaped her mouth; Caleb's kisses were making her body feel like jelly. Clearly he could sense her loss of control, as he wrapped one arm a little tighter around her waist and his other hand came up to cradle her head, his gentle nips at her neck never seizing.

The hand resting on Hanna's back eventually found its way up to the clasp of her bra, and unclipped it with a little difficulty before she felt the straps around her ribcage loosen. Hanna was thankful – she could use all of the breathing room that she could get right now. Warm hands slid up her arms in search of bra straps as Caleb's mouth left the soft skin of her neck for her lips, occupying them with a deep, wet kiss that prompted desperate moans from both of them.

Just as Caleb began to draw the straps from her shoulders, he felt a groan against his mouth and Hanna pulled away, eyes still closed as she clearly tried to get her breath back. For a moment, he was afraid that she was going to back out of this, that this wasn't what she really wanted. He felt his heart drop a little at the thought.

"If I'm taking _this_ off," Hanna breathed out, looking down at her bra before running her hand down Caleb's still-clothed chest, "Then you're taking _that_ off first."  
He smiled in relief; she did want this.

Shaking his head, Caleb brought her in for a quick kiss and mumbled against her lips, "Not a problem."

Hanna didn't even have time to register what was happening before Caleb leaned back and all but threw the shirt from his body, a feeling of comfort flooding her senses when he returned and she registered the warm skin of his torso finally pressing against hers. She didn't quite know how badly she'd longed to know what it felt like to be as close to Caleb as this, but she was happy that she finally knew, and that she'd never have to wonder again.

In the midst of heavy breaths and soft kisses, Hanna finally allowed Caleb to remove the only garment of clothing left on her upper body, exposing her chest to him completely. She felt her cheeks flush a little in embarrassment – a fleeting emotion which left her body the instant that she registered the expression on Caleb's face. Admiration, appreciation, or just pure wonder; whatever it was, it made Hanna feel like the most wonderful person on the planet.

Sensing her moment of insecurity, Caleb leant forward and pressed a gentle kiss to Hanna's nose, before trailing his lips back down her neck and onto her collar bone. A sharp intake of breath swept past her lips when his mouth met the valley between her breasts, peppering gentle kisses between them until he reached the top of her stomach and began to trail his way back up to her lips.

"Perfect," He mumbled into her mouth, his voice hoarser that she had expected it to be, "You're so perfect."

Hanna felt her cheeks flush red again.

She laughed against him, "I'm not." She shook her head slightly, though not enough that their lips parted from one another's, "I'm nowhere near."

"You are to me," He whispered back, assuredly.

It was so matter of fact, the way that he told her and the smouldering look in his eyes, that Hanna couldn't help but believe him. And suddenly, being with Caleb in this way, being with the person that she trusted and liked and _loved_ the most in the world made more sense than anything ever had before.

"And you're really cheesy," She laughed gently against his lips, though the tears that had begun to pool at the corners of her eyes told Caleb that his compliment had meant just as much to her as he'd thought it would.

Bringing her body back in towards his, he nudged his nose against Hanna's and connected their lips in a soft kiss, a kiss that intensified quickly when they each felt the others bare chest pressing against their own. One of Caleb's hands slid up Hanna's side until his thumb grazed the underside of her breast, before he decided to take a leap of faith and cupped the entirety of it with his hand. Clearly he had made the right choice, as Hanna let out a small squeak of approval and her body shivered involuntarily at his touch, Caleb gently beginning to run his thumb over her nipple as he started to feel a little more confident.

Lost in their kiss, he almost didn't realise when Hanna reached down for his other hand, placing it just south of the breast that wasn't getting any attention from him. Caleb smiled to himself at her forwardness, but didn't even think twice before he started to give her the same treatment on the other side of her body. She threw her head back at the contact before bringing it down onto his shoulder and exhaling into his neck, "That's good."

"I can tell," He chuckled gently as he pressed a kiss to her hairline, biting his bottom lip as he felt himself reacting the the way that Hanna was beginning to absentmindedly grind down onto his lap.

With her head still resting on him, Hanna's hands fumbled their way down to his belt and she started to unbuckle it, breathing heavily as she tried to concentrate on both what Caleb was doing to her, and what she was trying to do to him. "Mmmph, I can't…"

"Here," Caleb offered, moving his hands down to meet hers in search of a way to undo his belt buckle.

As soon as Hanna felt his hands take over, she moved hers up into his hair and restarted their kiss, which made it a little harder for Caleb now that he couldn't see what he was doing anymore. He didn't mind though – Hanna's lips were always a welcome distraction.

Finally managing to get to the point where both his belt and his jeans were undone, Caleb reached forward and blindly searched for the button of Hanna's denim shorts, flicking it open with ease and prompting a surprised moan from the girl sitting, squirming, on his lap. Both of his hands slid effortlessly under the material, toying with the top of her lace panties a little before he moved them all the way down to cup her ass cheeks. Hanna felt like her head was about to explode when he used his grip on her to push her forward onto his crotch, the friction way too much and nowhere near enough all at once.

Caleb broke their kiss for a moment, "Can I," He sucked her bottom lip between his quickly, missing the feeling of their mouths pressed against one another, "Can I take these off?"

He nodded down at her shorts and Hanna quickly understood what he meant, nodding enthusiastically as she kneeled up with her legs either side of him and began to shuffle the denim down her toned legs. "You too," She prompted breathlessly, standing up briefly when she realised that she wouldn't be able to remove her shorts while she was kneeling, allowing Caleb to remove his jeans at the same time.

Once they were off, and he was left sitting in front of her in just his underwear, Hanna couldn't help but stare at Caleb's body. She'd never noticed how toned he was before, or how desperately attracted she was to him; she also couldn't help but notice that she seemed to have had quite a large _effect_ on him, if the bulge in his boxers was anything to go by.

"Han?"

Hanna was broken out of her daze by Caleb's strained voice, and soon realised that she'd been staring for too long when she looked up and saw the amused expression on his face. She bit her bottom lip between her teeth, feeling her cheeks flush red with embarrassment.

Caleb let out a short laugh, "Will you come back here now? I'm kinda cold."

Hanna grinned at him as she slid her way back onto his lap, all the while taking in the new feeling of closeness that came with having only their underwear separating their most intimate parts. Her breathing immediately became shallow when she felt his hardness press against her for the first time, and she had to actively stop herself from pushing herself further against him.

Her gaze followed Caleb's hands carefully as they slid from her arms up to her neck and then to her face, right up until they stopped on her cheeks and she was encouraged to look into his eyes, his finger moving under her chin to tilt her head up slightly. He could sense that she was feeling a little nervous – he couldn't deny the fact that he was too, but he knew that Hanna had had a lot of issues with her self-confidence and body image in the past, and despite the fact that they had known each other so well for so long, showing the most intimate parts of herself to him must've been a little overwhelming.

"Do I need to remind you of how perfect you are?" He questioned her gently, brushing their lips together so lightly that they were barely touching.

Hanna smiled in response, bringing one of her hands to rest on top of his on her cheek. "Hmm, I'm not quite sure," She teased, "How about you do it just in case."

Caleb shook his head a little as he laughed, causing their noses to nuzzle against one another. "You're perfect," He whispered against her lips once his gaze was fixed firmly back on her eyes, the emotion in his brown orbs telling her everything that she needed to know.

He really did mean it.

Her response was a kiss; a long, probing kiss that resulted in their bodies being pressed even closer together than before, arms wrapped around each other and skin touching skin that it had never met before. Warmth spread through Hanna's body when she felt Caleb moan into her mouth and simultaneously dip the fingertips of one hand under the top of her black lace panties to feel the soft skin beneath. She wanted to grab his hand and push it further down, to push it all the way underneath until it was exactly where she wanted it to be, but instead she waited patiently as he slowly, torturously grazed the outside of her thigh with his knuckles.

"Caleb," She all but moaned into his mouth, "Please."

Caleb needed no further encouragement before he moved his hand further down and cupped Hanna underneath her panties, holding back a sound of approval at how ready she was for him already. Hanna could feel warmth shoot straight up through her body at his touch – she was craving more, and couldn't hold back as she ground herself against his hand. As if he could read her mind, Caleb slid one finger into her slowly, taking in the look of sheer pleasure on her face as he did so.

"That ok?" He asked her gently; although he was already certain that her answer would be yes, and he knew that she'd done this all before, he still wanted to make sure that she was more than alright with what was happening each and every step of the way.

"Mhm," She breathed out as she nuzzled her face into his neck, "Keep going."

Caleb pressed a kiss to the shell of her ear and pulled her in closer with his free arm as he pushed another finger into her alongside the first one, beginning to pump them in and out torturously slowly. If Hanna's whimpers and moans were anything to go by, he was doing something right.

One of her hands was at the nape of his neck, playing with his hair, and the other was on his chest, looking for something to hold onto but not quite being able to find it. Figuring that this was the case by the way that her fist kept scrunching up against him, Caleb brought his free hand up to meet hers, gripping it tightly as she finally found the contact that she'd been looking for.

"Caleb," She managed to get out as she lifted her head so that her gaze could meet his, "I-"

Caleb immediately understood what she was trying to say when she bit down on her lip and scrunched her eyes shut in pleasure; he quickly encouraged her lips back to his and sped up his movements on her, resulting in Hanna coming undone around his fingers with a long, drawn-out moan that sent shivers through his body.

He held her close to him, stroking her hair and pressing kisses to her forehead as she came down from her high. "You good?" He murmured, barely above a whisper.

Hanna only nodded in response, still too breathless and dizzy to formulate, let alone verbalise a sentence.

They sat like that for another few minutes, just taking each other in, before Hanna leaned back with a look of slight concern on her face. "Do you have…?" She asked timidly, licking her lips as she realised how dry they had become.

Hanna didn't have to finish her sentence – Caleb knew exactly what she meant, and for a brief moment, a feeling of panic washed over him as he doubted whether he had what Hanna, and he, both needed. His feeling of panic was replaced with one of relief when he realised that his wallet was in the pocket of his jeans, and it contained exactly what he was looking for.

"Over there," He smiled, nodding towards his jeans that had been thrown on the floor by the coffee table.

Hanna breathed a sigh of relief, and gave herself a moment to prepare before she swung one of her legs over Caleb to meet the other, allowing him to stand up and retrieve his jeans. "Do you think we should, uh, go upstairs?" She questioned nervously, biting down on her bottom lip, "I mean I don't think my mom would be very happy with us doing this in here."

Caleb chuckled as he walked back over to her, condom in one hand as he pulled Hanna up from the couch with the other. "Upstairs it is," He agreed, "But we can grab our clothes later right?"

"Oh yeah, we have the whole weekend to do that," Hanna giggled as Caleb snaked his arms around her and lifted her up off the floor, encouraging her to wrap her legs around him as he did. She was grateful – her limbs felt a little like jelly after the last half an hour. "Now stop talking and carry me up stairs."

"Whatever you say," Caleb chuckled against her lips, unable to resist the temptation to kiss her as he walked them up the stairs and towards her room.

As soon as he'd shut the door behind them, Caleb gently lowered Hanna down onto her bed and hovered over her, propping himself up on his elbows. "Can I?" He asked hopefully, averting his gaze to her underwear, which had already been dragged down a little due to their previous activities.

Hanna nodded twice in response, her bottom lip between her teeth as he gently reached down and slid the thin piece of material off of her legs. She tentatively reached forward to touch the bulge in his boxers almost as soon as he was finished, wanting to distract him slightly from the sight of her fully naked form. It worked – Caleb squeezed his eyes shut in pleasure, clearly already close to the edge. Hanna smiled at his reaction, and reached under the waistband of his boxers, grabbing his length and gently pumping her hand up and down as he groaned at the long-awaited contact.

Finally opening his eyes, he placed one hand over hers to stop her movements, despite how much he wanted her to carry on. "Han, you're not gonna be able to do that for much longer if you want me to, if you want us to…"

Hanna nodded understandingly and dropped her hand, a blush spreading across her cheeks when she realised that Caleb was now looking down at her fully naked form. But she couldn't be embarrassed, not for long, because the look in his eyes was one of so much admiration that she couldn't doubt the way that he felt about her. She smiled to herself – how could she have even doubted him in the first place?

Immersed in her own thoughts, she was caught a little off guard when Caleb placed a quick kiss on her lips before leaning back so that he was no longer covering her body, ridding himself of his boxers and grabbing the condom from the nightstand.

"Can I do it?" Hanna asked tentatively when she realised what he was doing, wanting to feel as much of him as she could.

Caleb nodded twice, and Hanna didn't miss the smile that tugged at the corner of his lips.

She reached out towards him and took the square package from his hands, ripping it open before she rolled it down onto him. Caleb groaned at the simple movement – he was so worked up from watching Hanna come apart that even the smallest of touches sent sparks shooting through his body.

"You ready?" He asked her as he leant back over her body, already knowing what her answer would be.

 _I have been for a long time_ , Hanna thought to herself, though deciding that just a nod would suffice, she gave Caleb the confirmation that he needed and he gently pushed himself into her.

As their bodies joined, both Hanna and Caleb were pretty sure that they'd never felt anything like this in their lives, and that they'd be lucky to feel anything like it again.

Their first movements were agonisingly slow, careful, as their bodies almost immediately became accustomed to one another and the sounds of their laboured breaths became intermingled. Caleb reached up to entangle the fingers of one of his hands with one of Hanna's, needing some way to express the intensity of the feelings that were taking over him at that moment. Deciding that it still wasn't enough, he pushed his lips against hers in a desperate kiss, their tongues intertwining and soothing and exploring as they devoured each other in every way possible.

Soon, their movements sped up, and the room was filled with satisfied grunts and moans that only got louder when Caleb reached down to rub Hanna's clit. He could feel her beginning to tighten around him, which he was thankful for, because he wasn't sure how much longer he could last with her warmth surrounding him.

Their breathing now too heavy to cope with kissing, they broke apart, though only slightly, and Hanna's blue eyes looked up to meet Caleb's brown ones. Almost the second that she did, she scrunched them shut again as waves of pleasure flooded through her body, causing her to arch up from the bed and clamp the leg that by now was hooked up around Caleb even tighter against him.

It was all too much for Caleb – with the way that Hanna was contracting around him, and the way that drawn-out moans were pouring from her slightly parted lips, it was only a matter of seconds before he felt himself go over the edge and join her in feelings of sheer bliss.

After a couple more thrusts, both of their bodies were too spent to work for any longer, and Caleb collapsed against Hanna as her leg fell down onto the mattress. He quickly rolled onto his side and then onto his back as he realised that his weight was probably too much for her body to bear at the best of times, let alone when she was desperately trying to get her breath back.

It was the first time in a while, right then, with both of them laying completely spent and naked on their backs next to each other, that either of them had had the chance to formulate a coherent thought.

Little did they know, they both had exactly the same one.

 _I can't believe that just happened._

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 **Soooo…**

 **That was literally a whole chapter of smut, so apologies if you don't like smut aha! Well at least they finally did the deed, now just to see how they feel about it afterwards. Mahahaha.**

 **Reviews are always very much appreciated x**


	9. Chapter Nine

**Sorry for the ridiculous wait (as usual), but here is chapter nine at long last.**

 **For those of you who were asking about whether or not Hanna and Caleb were virgins before the events of the last chapter took place, your question is about to be answered.**

 **Enjoy!**

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Chapter Nine

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Both Hanna and Caleb stayed completely silent for longer than either of them had anticipated. It wasn't an uncomfortable silence, though; it was one of relief, contentment, maybe even unsureness, but the last thing that either one of them would have described it as was uncomfortable.

A fair way into the silence, after maybe five minutes or so, Caleb had moved his hand down to join with Hanna's, and was more than relieved when she happily intertwined her fingers with his, allowing him to rub his thumb back and forth across the back of her hand. Eventually, the rising and falling of their chests had slowed, their desperate, shallow breaths had evened out, and had Caleb finally gathered up the courage to turn his head towards Hanna – ten minutes of not talking to her was enough.

He was too anxious to find out what she was thinking. He needed to know before his own thoughts and doubts started driving him insane.

Half-expecting her to be asleep, he was a little surprised to see her turn her head almost at the same time as him, her eyelids heavy over her bright blue eyes and her lips stretched out in a lazy smile.

"Hey," She whispered, bringing their joined hands up to rest by the side of her head.

"Hey," Caleb smiled back, his voice low as he reached out with his other hand to tuck a stray strand of hair behind her ear.

Hanna pursed her lips, and Caleb could tell that she was mulling her next sentence over in her mind.

He just desperately hoped that it wouldn't revolve around the word 'mistake'.

She took a deep breath in before swallowing, and then finally opened her mouth to speak, shaking her head and squinting her eyes as she did so. "What the hell just happened?"

When her face almost immediately broke out into a grin, and Caleb saw those dimples on her cheeks and the creases at the corners of her eyes that only appeared when she was really, truly happy, he couldn't help but laugh along with her. He had to admit, the whole situation seemed kind of bizarre when he really thought about it, but at the same time, being with Hanna like this felt like the most natural thing in the world.

"Hmmm, I think we kinda had sex," He chuckled, leaning over to cup her face in his hand when he noticed a furious blush creeping across her cheeks at his words.

"Well, I know that," She laughed, "It was one of those questions that you're not supposed to answer."

"A rhetorical question?" He quipped.

"Yeah, one of those," She whispered back, their laughter finally dying down. "You think we can call this practice for acting like a couple in front of Sean too?"

Caleb smirked, raising an eyebrow, "We literally just had sex and you still want to use Sean as an excuse?"

"Can you stop saying that word please?" Hanna giggled in response, "It makes me feel weird."

"Sean?" Caleb enquired, raising an eyebrow. He knew exactly which word she meant, but just wanted to play with her, wanted to make her say it and see that blush creep upon her cheeks once again.

Hanna rolled her eyes, "No." She pursed her lips together before biting her bottom lip, "Sex," She mumbled quietly as she rolled her eyes for a second time, burying her head in her pillow.

Caleb couldn't help but find her embarrassment a little endearing. "Why?"

"It's just kinda hard to believe that we did it." She whispered, her voice muffled by the plush pink cushion pressed against her face.

"Thanks Han," Caleb chuckled, "I didn't know I was that-"

"No no no," She interrupted, her head immediately shooting up, "I didn't mean the fact that it was with you, I just meant that, you know."

"No," He questioned, raising an eyebrow.

Hanna sighed, rolling her entire body over to face him, bringing the sheet up to cover herself a little at the same time. She sighed, "I'm a virgin. Well, I was a virgin before, you know." She immediately looked embarrassed, biting her bottom lip between her teeth as she cringed internally.

"You were?" He replied, sounding somewhat more surprised than he had intended, his eyes widening a little in response to her confession. He had always just assumed that Hanna and Sean had been having sex whilst they were together; they were the school's 'it' couple, so if anyone was doing it, then he had always figured that it had to be them, right?

Caleb immediately regretted his words when he saw Hanna nod weakly in response, a thin sheen of tears forming over her eyes. "Hey, no, I didn't mean anything bad by that," He qualified, "I just thought that you and Sean…"

"No, we didn't," She shrugged, reaching up to stop a tear falling from her eye, "He never wanted to, and I just…"

"You what?" He prompted gently when she stopped talking mid-sentence, turning so that he could swing an arm around her waist and pull her closer, the sheet dropping from her chest as he did so. Her warm body felt so naturally accustomed to his as she snuggled into him.

She swallowed nervously, gazing up at him with wide eyes, "I was always too scared with him. I felt uncomfortable." Caleb nodded in understanding, and so she continued, "I didn't with you, though. I just feel so at home with you, and you were so gentle with me, and you knew what you were doing and-"

Caleb chuckled, interrupting Hanna's flurry of words.

"What?" She asked, furrowing her brow, suddenly worried that she'd said something embarrassing. She'd never done the whole 'sex' thing before; she didn't know how it worked, what she was supposed to say, or even how she should feel. All that she needed in that moment was for Caleb to reassure her that everything was alright.

He pursed his lips, "I had no idea what I was doing," He admitted, coyly.

Hanna raised her eyebrows, "What do you mean?"

"I'm, uh, I was a virgin too, before tonight," Caleb murmured, his eyes flickering down to their joined hands before his gaze met hers once more.

"Oh," Hanna responded, her mouth forming a small O-shape.

"Yeah."

"So we were each other's…"

"Each other's firsts, yeah."

A horrible thought suddenly crossed Caleb's mind. "I didn't hurt you, did I?" He asked worriedly, his eyes darting around her face in the hope of detecting any signs that he had caused her any kind of pain, "I mean I tried to be gentle, but if I'd have known that you were, that it was-"

"Hey, you didn't hurt me," She shook her head in an attempt to stop his worried thoughts from progressing any further. "It was amazing," She grinned at him. Caleb couldn't help but reciprocate her bright smile – she clearly felt just as elated as he did about what had happened between them.

"Not even at the start?" He enquired, still a little unsure; he knew how stubborn Hanna could be at times.

Hanna squinted, tilting her head to one side, "I mean, sure it felt a little sore at first, but it definitely didn't hurt," She assured him, scrunching her nose up as she shrugged. "You have nothing to worry about."

"I still wish you'd have told me," He sighed, moving his hand up from her waist to run through her hair, "I would have made it more special for you."

"It _was_ special," She murmured, before her voice turned to a whisper, "It was wonderful."

A warm smile spread across Caleb's face at her words as he continued weaving his fingers through her blonde locks, his eyes taking in every single detail of her delicate features until he couldn't hold back his thoughts for any longer. "Can I kiss you?" He spoke softly, his bottom lip between his teeth almost as soon as the words has left his mouth.

Hanna couldn't find the vocabulary to describe the way that he was looking at her in that moment – admiration? Adoration? Love? Whatever it was, she couldn't peel her eyes away from his, and she couldn't stop her heart as it thumped in her chest, or her stomach as butterflies flew around inside of her and made her feel unapologetically giddy.

"Of course you can kiss me," She whispered, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Their faces were already so close that they barely had to move for their lips to come into contact; it was a soft kiss at first, one like many kisses that they had shared before, yet this time it felt different. There was a new connection, a new shared understanding that they both had with one another, one that they had never shared with anybody else.

Their mouths moved in sync as the kiss became more passionate, Caleb's tongue running across Hanna's bottom lip before she granted him entry. His hands moved to cup her jaw and she moaned into the kiss, her arms wrapping themselves tightly around his waist.

After a few minutes, Hanna had to pull back to catch her breath, but couldn't quite bring herself to open her eyes just yet. The kiss had left her feeling lightheaded, other-worldly, and she never wanted to break out of whatever kind of spell that she was sure she was under.

She was positive that Caleb was doing the same thing, until she felt the gentle brush of his lips on her cheek, and then on the tip of her nose. "You good?" He murmured, his lips hovering just above hers.

"Amazing," She breathed out, her eyelids fluttering open.

And in that split second, when she saw Caleb, her best friend in the world, laying there in front of her once again, the reality of the situation hit her. They would be fine as long as they were in this bed, in this fairy-tale moment, but what happened afterwards? What happened when they went back to school, when they went back to normal everyday life?

"You sure?" He asked again, sensing her diverting thoughts as her eyes wandered to a point on the wall behind him.

Hanna took a deep breath in, "Yeah, it's just," She shook her head, "What does this make us?"

"What does it make us?" Caleb repeated back to her, a little confused.

"Like, what are we?" She confirmed.

Caleb thought for a second before he spoke, "We can be whatever you want us to be." He paused, and then started to qualify his words, worried that he'd said the wrong thing, "I mean, I don't want to ruin our friendship or-"

"Me either," Hanna agreed, "I wouldn't trade our friendship for anything."

"Good," He breathed out, a little relieved, "So…"

"What about friends with benefits?" Hanna rambled, a look of apprehension plastered across her features as her nervous eyes met his.

Caleb raised his eyebrows, "Like in the movie?" He joked, hoping to ease the tension in the air a little.

It worked, and Hanna grinned at him as she rolled her eyes, "Yeah, like in the movie." She cleared her throat, "I mean, I don't wanna ruin our friendship but I also really don't wanna stop doing… this."

Caleb felt his heart flutter at her words. "Me either," He agreed, "So just friends who sleep together, no strings attached?"

Hanna nodded, "Sounds good to me."

Their eyes met as silence surrounded them once more, and Caleb found himself being drawn into her for yet another kiss. As their lips moved together in perfect synchronisation, he couldn't help but think about how that movie had ended, the movie that they had just defined their relationship by. The couple had ended up falling in love, and he couldn't help but feel his heart grow a little warmer at the prospect of life imitating art in their situation.

* * *

"And that my friends, is what you call a full house."

Toby leaned back as he sighed at the realisation that Caleb's hand had just beaten his, holding his hands up in resignation.

"And as our hand also beats Spencer's, I think that means that we win," Hanna smirked, turning round from her position on Caleb's lap to smile at him as they high-fived.

"We?" Spencer enquired, raising an eyebrow, "You haven't even been playing."

"Excuse me," She argued back, "I've been helpful, right Caleb?" She tapped his knee lightly so as to encourage him to stick up for her.

"Yeah, sure," He confirmed, snaking one of his arms around her waist, "You've been a great help."

Hanna smiled at his response, turning a cheek towards his face. He immediately caught on, and pressed a chaste kiss against her soft skin before she leaned back into his embrace.

"Oh shut up," Spencer laughed, "You just like the fact that she's been sitting on your lap for the last two hours."

Caleb shrugged as a smirk tugged at his lips, "I'm not complaining."

"What's with you two, anyway?" Toby enquired, "I thought the whole couple thing was just to get Sean to back off?"

"It is," Hanna shot back, shuffling off of Caleb's lap as she walked into Spencer's kitchen, "Anyone want another drink?"

"Then why haven't Caleb's arms moved from around your waist the entire night?" Spencer argued, ignoring her offer completely, "You act more like a couple than we do."

Hanna looked to Caleb for help, widening her eyes as if to say 'your turn now'. Caleb panicked – they were really running out of excuses. "It's practice," He eventually sighed, shrugging, "You can't expect us to act like a couple in front of Sean if we don't know how to do it in the first place."

Hanna held her breath as she poured herself another diet coke, awaiting Spencer and Toby's response. It was obvious to everyone that there was something more going on between herself and Caleb, but she didn't want to have to explain what they were defining their relationship as to other people, not now.

"Fine," Spencer rolled her eyes, "If you don't want to talk about it then we'll just drop it."

 _Phew_.

"There's nothing to talk about, ok?" Hanna snapped, placing her drink back down on the table in the middle of the living room and taking a seat on the floor next to Caleb, rather than on his lap. "Let's just deal the cards out again."

"Ok," Spencer agreed, holding her hands up. She shuffled the cards before beginning to deal them out, creating three small piles as the rest of the group sat in complete silence.

"This game is getting boring," Toby interjected, hoping to lighten up the situation a little, "How about we watch a movie or something?"

"Sounds good to me," Hanna chirped almost immediately. Anything to take the heat off of herself and Caleb.

Spencer stood up, brushing the back of her hands on her denim jeans, "Fine, any suggestions?"

When she got no response other than shrugs from Hanna and Caleb, Toby stood up too, taking her hand in his. "Why don't we pick one from the collection in your room?" He suggested, "I'll come with you."

Spencer huffed, knowing full well that he was attempting to diffuse the situation. "Fine," She smiled, pulling him behind her as she made her way towards the stairs, "Let's go."

As soon as Spencer and Toby were out of sight, Hanna let out a huge groan and practically flung herself into Caleb's arms. "I hate this so much," She grumbled into his chest as she buried her head against his shirt, "I wanna be able to do, you know, _stuff_ in front of them without them questioning us."

"We could just tell them?" He suggested, pressing a kiss to the top of her head as he stroked her back.

Hanna sighed, sitting herself upright again before pushing her hand through her hair. "No," She shook her head, "They wouldn't get the whole 'friends with benefits' things. They want to be together but they can't, so they'd just be mad if they knew that we have the opportunity to be together but instead we're just fooling around."

Caleb swallowed and diverted his gaze at hearing the phrase 'fooling around' come from her mouth, and Hanna didn't miss his change in expression as it went from one of contentment to one of disappointment.

"I didn't mean," She paused, shaking her head, "I didn't mean fooling around, that was the wrong choice of words."

"It's fine," Caleb smiled at her, trying to hide his sadness, "I mean, that's what it is, right?"

It had only been three days since they had first slept together, but ever since then, they had taken full advantage of Hanna's mom being away and spent more than their fair share of time in Hanna's double bed – that was until her mom had returned on the Monday. Caleb was almost certain that whatever he was feeling, whatever he felt when they were together, Hanna was feeling too. And that's why he couldn't help it when his heart dropped at her words.

Shaking her head lightly, Hanna shuffled so that she was sitting directly in front of him, before getting up onto her knees and then sliding onto his lap to straddle him. She took his face in her hands, gently stroking up and down his jawline either side of his face with her thumbs as her eyes traced over his features. She let her eyelids flutter shut, sighing as she pressed the tip of her nose to his. "You know that it means more to me than just 'fooling around'." Her voice was hushed, barely a whisper, but Caleb could tell that she meant what she said.

"I know," He nodded lightly, lifting his gaze to meet hers as she opened her eyes, "It does to me too."

Their faces were so close that Caleb could hear Hanna's nervous swallow and her shallow breaths; he could feel the thumping of her heart against her chest as she closed her eyes once again and pressed her lips to his in a kiss so soft that he wasn't entirely sure whether or not it was happening.

That was until, in a blur of emotion and desperation and _lust_ , her arms flung themselves around his neck, her hands moved up into his hair, and her tongue delved into his mouth, tasting and giving and taking all that he was willing to give her. He happily accepted her kisses and hungrily returned them, sliding his hands around her back to grasp at the material of her white crop top, pushing his fingertips just underneath it to feel her burning skin.

He was so engrossed in their make out session that he almost didn't notice when Hanna's hand found its way to the top of his jeans, surreptitiously sliding down until her fingers were running tentatively over his now quite noticeable bulge. "Han," He groaned, "We can't, we're at-"

His words were cut short when Hanna's fingers moved up and under his shirt, her nails tracing lightly over his abdomen. "Less talking," She murmured against his lips, before her tongue made its way back into his mouth and she was kissing him all over again.

Caleb didn't want to argue with her, and was pretty sure that he wouldn't have been able to even if he had tried. He moaned into her mouth when his hands slid further up her back under her top, and he realised that she wasn't wearing a bra. His fingers danced tentatively around her sides, until they reached the underside of her breasts. "I really wish that I could take this off of you," He breathed out between kisses, tugging at the bottom of the crop top.

"I really wish that you wouldn't in my living room."

Spencer's voice broke Hanna and Caleb apart almost immediately. They both turned to face her, desperately out of breath, with expressions of embarrassment plastered across their reddened features.

Toby raised his eyebrows, "Just friends, huh?"

* * *

 **Apologies for the fact that this is a teeny-tiny bit shorter than the chapters usually are in this story, but I really wanted to get something out before Christmas. Speaking of Christmas – merry (almost) Christmas to anyone who celebrates it! And to anyone who doesn't, have a wonderful rest of the weekend anyway, whatever you may be doing/celebrating. I really hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and as always, reviews are very much appreciated x**


	10. Chapter Ten

**I was gonna say happy new year seeing as this is the first time I've updated this fic this year but… I think it's a little late for that now haha! Nevertheless, here's a new chapter for you all. I've also posted three oneshots recently, so feel free to check those out if you'd like to.**

 **To the guest who asked for an update for their birthday – I'm sorry I kinda failed and didn't get this out in time, but I hope you still like it anyway.**

 **Without further ado, enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter Ten

* * *

Hanna had been caught making out before, sure. But that was with Sean, and it could barely qualify as a real kiss… she'd never been caught in a heated make out session with her _best friend_ until now.

The way in which Spencer was staring at her with raised eyebrows and wide eyes, an amused Toby hot on her heels, really wasn't helping the situation at all.

"You can stop looking at us like that now," Hanna mumbled, sliding herself off of Caleb's lap before she pressed her face up against his shoulder, "We didn't do anything wrong."

Caleb shook his head at Toby and Spencer; he could tell that Hanna was starting to get a little upset by the small wobble in her voice, and the way that she was scrunching the back of his shirt up over and over again in her fist. "Hey," He soothed, rubbing her arm a couple of times as he tried to pry her face away from his shirt, "Han, it's Spence and Toby, they don't care."

"Oh, we care," Toby teased, oblivious to Hanna's upset, laughing as he sat down on the couch opposite to them.

Hanna's head shot up immediately and she gave him her best death stare, exhaling noisily through her nose, "Not funny." She was trying desperately to hold back from exploding, telling them how much she wanted to run away from Spencer's house in that moment, a single tear threatening to spill down her cheek despite her wishes.

Spencer rolled her eyes at them both, "You don't have to be embarrassed, Han," She assured her, taking her place on the sofa next to Toby, "We're just a little… confused."

Toby nodded in agreement as Hanna and Caleb looked at each other for the first time since they had been caught, small smiles tugging at the corners of their lips, Hanna's mood instantly lifting at the sight of his face. The truth was, neither of them really knew how to explain what was going on between them. Sure, they had agreed on this whole 'friends with benefits' things, but explaining their situation according to those terms seemed a little superficial.

Before either of them had a chance to explain themselves, though, Spencer interrupted the silence. "You're dating, aren't you?" She smirked, wiggling her eyebrows up and down a couple of times.

Caleb looked straight to Hanna, who barely registered the question before she threw her answer out. "No," She assured her, shaking her head, "We're not… we're not… a couple."

"Then what are you?" Enquired Toby, "Because you walk around holding hands, you spend every second of free time that you have together, and we just caught you doing things that nobody else needed to see."

Hanna rolled her eyes; Caleb tried not to laugh beside her.

"So?" Toby prompted, something that looked undoubtedly similar to anticipation flashing across his eyes, "Can we start going on double dates now or not?"

Sensing Hanna's unease, Caleb took her hand in his and squeezed her fingers gently, rubbing his thumb across her knuckles. "We're not exactly together," He began, scratching the back of his head with the other hand, "We're more than friends but, uh, we're not dating." He took a deep breath in, unsure of how to continue, "We're trying a-"

"Friends with benefits. You're totally friends with benefits," Spencer concluded, her eyes gleaming with joy at the fact that she'd just figured out what was going on, "So you've done it then, you've had sex?"

Hanna groaned, her face returning to it's previous position, buried against Caleb's shoulder. "Stop," She moaned, "Leave us alone."

"She'll just pester you until you tell her," Toby joked, "So you may as well just get it over with."

Spencer titled her head to the side, indicating that what Toby had said was correct; she wanted an answer, and she was going to get one, even if it meant embarrassing her friends a little in the process.

Unsure of what she should say, or even if she should say anything, Hanna stayed with her head pressed firmly against Caleb; he sat quietly with raised eyebrows and a small pout forming on his lips. Apparently, their silence was enough of an answer for Spencer.

"You have!" She practically beamed, "How was it?" She mocked, in a purposefully husky voice.

"We don't have to answer your questions ok?" Hanna huffed, suddenly deciding to stand up and move into the kitchen, reaching into the fridge to grab herself a drink. "You want anything?" She asked, turning towards Caleb, purposefully not offering anything to either Spencer or Toby.

"I'm good, thanks," He smiled, turning back to his other friends. "Seriously guys, it's no big deal. Just leave it."

"Right," Spencer agreed with a small smirk as Hanna returned to them, deducing that she had gone a little too far by the stern look on Caleb's face. "Sorry."

"It's fine," Hanna mumbled into her can of diet soda, taking a huge gulp as she realised just how dry her mouth had become. She sat down next to Caleb, purposefully a little further away from him than she had been before.

After a beat, Spencer couldn't help but come back with one more remark, "But I am gonna need you to tell me how it was at some point."

* * *

"They think I'm just using you to get some," Hanna concluded, throwing her arms out in front of her as she walked down the almost empty streets of Rosewood. "They think I'm some kind of slut that will just sleep with her best friend because he's… there."

"Han," Caleb laughed a little, "You know that's not true. They're our best friends and they know us, you're overreacting."

"I'm not," She huffed as they approached her front door, turning the key in the lock and pushing the front door open before she stormed through it.

Caleb could barely keep up with her as she strode through into the kitchen, sitting down on one of the stools with a packet of cookies that had been stashed in one of the cupboards.

"Why are you this upset?" He asked, confused and a little concerned as she bit into a cookie, "I don't get it." His resolve crumbled when he saw a single tear run down her cheek, before she turned her head away from him so that he couldn't see her face anymore.

"Hey," He soothed, suddenly concerned, "What's wrong?" He walked straight over to Hanna, bringing her face back towards him with her cheek in the palm of his hand. Her skin felt damp and warm against his as more tears began to fall, her eyes turning a bright shade of blue and her cheeks flushing pink in embarrassment.

"Nothing," She shook her head, dumping her half eaten cookie into the bin beside her, "I'm fine."

"You're not fine," He countered, sliding his palm up to push her hair back from her face, "Why has this upset you so much?"

Hanna took a shaky breath in before her eyes settled on Caleb's. The truth was, she didn't really know why she was so upset. Spencer and Toby were their best friends; they would never judge them, or tell anybody else, if they didn't want them to.

But then again, Hanna didn't even think it was them that she was upset about. The more she thought about it, the more she realised that she might have just been upset with the fact that 'friends with benefits' was the only valid explanation that she and Caleb could give. It felt so wrong to her, to explain their relationship as something that seemed so shallow. When Spencer had asked if they were dating and her immediate answer had been 'no', something in her had switched, and everything about what they were doing felt phoney. Like they were pretending to be something that they weren't.

Her relationship with Caleb was so much more than friends, so much more than just 'benefits'.

Why couldn't either of them bring themselves to admit it?

"Han?" Caleb prompted her gently after she hadn't spoken for a couple of minutes, never ceasing the soothing motions of his fingers as they ran through her hair, "What is it?"

Still unsure of her answer, Hanna turned on her stool until she was facing him and shrugged, before pushing herself up and wrapping her arms around his back, her face buried in his chest and her body pressed tightly against him. "I just need a hug," She mumbled, her voice muffled by his shirt.

Caleb laughed, snaking his arms around her waist as he began to rub slow circles on her back. "I think it's a little more than that," He chuckled, his voice soft and quiet, "But a hug will do for now."

"Thanks," Hanna smiled against him, loving how he never pushed her into talking about anything that she didn't want to. After a minute or so, she lifted her head up to meet his gaze, his eyes boring into hers, a mixture of curiosity, and concern, and something akin to fondness that she couldn't quite place flooding them. A force from within compelled her to say something, something that she wasn't even aware that she was feeling until the words were in her mouth.

"I-"

But then she stopped herself.

And her lips were on his.

And all words were forgotten.

Except they weren't, not in Caleb's mind. And as their lips moved together, their mouths slanting against the others, his heartbeat sped up uncontrollably as he imagined what the end of her sentence could have been. But he was fooling himself, he was sure. Hanna was getting upset about them being friends who were... more than friends, she couldn't have been about to say what he had thought she was, could she?

Now that the idea was in his head, he couldn't help but spend the rest of their kiss thinking about what his answer would have been; it didn't take long for him to come to a definite conclusion.

"Well, this is new."

Hanna stilled immediately, cringing as she heard her mother's voice slice straight through the sexual tension in the room, cruelly interrupting the make out session that she had been so engrossed in. Turning on her heel, she rubbed her lips together and looked up at her mom, her unease more than evident. "I thought you were asleep in bed…" She began, her voice trailing off as she attempted to come up with an excuse for her actions, "I wouldn't have…"

Ashley smiled at both of them, before focusing her attention on Hanna. "I don't mind that you're kissing Caleb, honey," She assured her, noticing the way that her daughter's hands were fumbling with the bottom of her shirt, "I mean I'd rather you didn't do it right here but, I just didn't know that this was…" She pointed between the two of them, "A thing?"

Caleb cleared his throat, "We're not a thing," He shook his head, "We're not uh, we're not dating." His voice was noticeably hoarse from the kiss, and he made a mental note not to speak to Ashley again before he'd had something to drink.

Hanna's heart started racing when her mom raised an eyebrow at her. How the hell was she supposed to explain 'friends with benefits' to her mother? In her mind, that would pretty much be the epitome of embarrassment. "A play," She eventually blurted out, not being able to bear the awkward silence for any longer, "We're rehearsing for a play."

Ashley let out a short laugh, clearly amused, "Caleb, you auditioned for a play?"

"Uh, yeah, I guess," Caleb mumbled, scratching the back of his head as he looked at Hanna, who rolled her eyes and slapped his arm at his weak attempt at lying.

Reaching past them both to grab her phone charger from the kitchen island, Ashley let out a sigh and began making her way upstairs once again. "I know for damn sure that you're not rehearsing for any kind of play, Hanna," She spoke over her shoulder, "But you can just tell me what's going on whenever you're ready."

As soon as Ashley was out of sight, Hanna threw her head into her hands, her elbows resting on the countertop as she let out long groan. "Can people, like, stop walking in on us when we're kissing?" She moaned, "It's getting really annoying."

Caleb laughed, pulling on Hanna's arm gently so that she turned to face him. "I mean I guess it's kinda our fault, we should probably stop kissing in the middle of people's homes," He joked, absentmindedly intertwining the fingers of one of his hands with hers.

Hanna rolled her eyes, "That's not the point," She retorted, though there was a smirk tugging at the corner of her lips. "What if I don't want to stop kissing you in kitchens, anyway?"

"Then you have to stop complaining about people finding out about us," He murmured as she pulled him towards her by the front of his shirt.

Hanna tilted her chin up, moving her face forward so that her mouth was only centimetres from his. Her eyes flickered down to his lips quickly, and then back up to his eyes, which were gleaming with excitement. "I think I can do both," She whispered, before closing the distance between them.

Their kiss picked up pretty much from where they had left off; soon hands were roaming and heavy breaths were filling the air as they quickly felt themselves begin to lose control. "Upstairs," Hanna mumbled between kisses, "We should go upstairs."

"But you mom has that no boys in your bedroom rule," Caleb countered, trying to catch his breath as Hanna began walking them backwards towards the stairs.

Hanna shook her head, dismissing his comment, "You know that doesn't apply to you, she lets you in my room all the time," She stated simply, before pushing her lips back onto his.

Caleb went along with it for a second, until they reached Hanna's bedroom door and he realised just how close it was to Ashley's. "Not to do this," He mumbled, breaking this kiss, "She's never let me go in your bedroom to do this."

Sighing, Hanna tugged him through her doorway and shut the door behind them, dimming the lights before placing her hands on his shoulders and leaning up to whisper in his ear. "Well she never has to know, does she?" She leaned back, a mischievous grin on her face and an excited twinkle in her eyes.

Caleb smiled and shook his head, but despite his efforts, he couldn't help the shiver that ran down his spine at the sound of her voice in his ear. He didn't protest at all when Hanna's hands slid up from his shoulders to his face, her thumbs tracing his jawline as she gently bit his bottom lip between her teeth.

"Kiss me," She murmured, her eyes searching his with fervour.

He couldn't hold himself back for any longer as Hanna's eyes, and voice, and whole being got the better of him; he should have known that he was eventually going to give into her, he always did. Their lips crashed together as they clumsily moved back towards Hanna's bed, falling atop of the covers in a tangled mass of limbs.

"Are you sure you want to do this again," Caleb breathed, his hand trailing up the soft skin of Hanna's stomach under her shirt with no intention of stopping.

She nodded in response, opening her eyes to stare up at him, "We just have to be really quiet."

Caleb nodded back at her, already aware of what she was telling him; he definitely didn't want Hanna's mom hearing anything of what they were about to… do. His lips desperately reattached themselves to hers as she wrapped her legs around his hips, and her hands started grabbing at the bottom of his shirt, eventually moving it up and over his head.

"What was that?" He mumbled against her neck as he placed a kiss there, her hands stroking up and down his abdomen.

Hanna sighed, for the first time noticing the small bleeping sound that Caleb was referring to, "My phone, ignore it." With the gentle pressure of her legs on his back, she pulled his body closer, encouraging his lips back onto hers.

Five seconds later and her phone started making noise again, the increasingly annoying ringtone going on for a little longer than it had before. Hanna rolled her eyes as Caleb paused mid-kiss, pulling back to raise his eyebrows at her, "Sounds like somebody really needs you."

"Yeah, you," She retorted, rolling out from underneath him to sit on the edge of the bed as she grabbed her phone from her bedside cabinet.

Caleb laughed gently, shaking his head at Hanna's comment as he lay on his side, propping his head up on his hand. "Who is it?"

Hanna didn't reply, instead swinging her legs back onto the bed and throwing her phone down onto the floor, leaving it to ring. "Spencer," She moaned, wriggling her way towards him and burying her head in his neck as he wrapped an arm loosely around her waist. "I'll just call her back later."

Caleb had no intention of arguing with her, especially when her lips found their way into the crook of his neck and she began kissing a path up to his jawline. "Now can we please carry on from where we left off?"

He let out a hoarse groan at the sound of her needy whisper right up against his ear, and flipped them both back over, effectively answering her question with his act of dominance. "You're still wearing too many clothes," He remarked, gesturing towards her top with his eyes.

Hanna sucked in a breath through her teeth, pretending to think deeply about the situation. "Yeah, I think you should probably do something about that," She quipped; but Caleb was already there, and her shirt was half way over her head by the end of her sentence. She was sure that she could make out a muffled 'better' coming from Caleb's lips as he latched his mouth onto the newly exposed skin over her collar bone, but when his tongue began running a path between the valley of her breasts, she couldn't find it within herself to muster up any kind of response.

Instead, she threw her head back onto the pillow, tangling her fingers into Caleb's hair as his mouth made her feel things that she didn't even know she was capable of feeling. A deep moan emanated from her throat when he pulled one of her bra cups down and sucked her nipple into his mouth; she instantly covered her mouth with her hand when she realised what she'd done, praying that her mom hadn't heard her more than obvious noise of gratification.

Caleb laughed against her as he felt her tense up, "Shhhhh," He joked, pulling away for a second, "Or I'll be kicked out of the no boy zone."

"I don't care," Hanna retorted, pushing his head back towards her, "This is so worth it."

Caleb flicked his tongue across her nipple once more before he moved his mouth up to meet hers, starting a kiss that was inevitably going to lead to them both being anything but silent. Neither of them could find it within them to care, though; Hanna's breathy whimpers, along with Caleb's groans and the sounds of their lips connecting over and over again soon became so overbearing that they left little room for anything else to be heard.

That included the sound of Ashley's bedroom door as it opened, and the sound of her footsteps as she walked out onto the landing.

Hanna only came to the realisation that her mom was no longer in her room when she heard the toilet flush, and the bathroom door creak open shortly after.

"Shit," She croaked out, her brain a little fuzzy, "My mom, she's not in her room."

Caleb immediately pulled away from Hanna, turning his head towards to door as he attempted to listen out for any signs that Hanna's mom was heading their way. "She isn't?"

"I heard the toilet flush," Hanna explained, reaching over the side of the bed to grab both of their shirts, "Quick, put this back on, we can just pretend that we fell asleep."

Caleb nodded, a panicked look washing over his face as he pulled the material back over his head. "I can hear her coming this way," He whispered in an attempt to hurry Hanna along.

"My bra's twisted," She hissed back at him, "Help."

He reached an arm around her back, trying desperately to do what he could, but before he came anywhere close to achieving his aim, Hanna's bedroom door began to creak open slowly. They both had no choice but to lay down in the positions that they were currently in, Caleb's arm around Hanna's back, her face pressing into the crook of his neck by chance as they fell.

The beam of light coming from the crack between the door and the frame got wider, and shortly after, the sound of Ashley's footsteps could be heard as she entered the room. Hanna held her breath in anticipation, but then realising that she probably looked a little unnatural doing so, let out a small snore. _Please don't kick him out, please don't kick him out_.

Nothing happened for a good few minutes. Or maybe it was only thirty seconds, but to Hanna and Caleb, it felt like forever. Then, Ashley sighed, and the room became dim once more as the door clicked shut. She was gone.

Lifting her head up and off of Caleb, Hanna let out a breath that she'd practically been holding since she'd first heard her mom leave her bedroom. "She believed us," She smiled, her voice barely there; she was terrified at the idea of her mother hearing her and returning, "She believed we fell asleep."

Caleb smiled, nodding in confirmation, "She did." For the first time, he noticed the way that his arm was wrapped around Hanna, but made no effort to remove it. Instead, he tugged at her waist with his hand, encouraging her to cuddle up against his chest.

Hanna happily complied, snaking an arm around him as she hummed in contentment. "I don't think we can do anything, uh... anything else now," She mumbled, flushing a little as she searched for the right words, "But it looks like she's alright with you staying over," She joked, her eyes fluttering to a close.

Looking down at her peaceful expression, Caleb smiled to himself. "That's good enough for me," He confirmed stroking his thumb across her cheek as her face visibly relaxed at his touch, her lips parting a little. "Goodnight baby."

Hanna's heart flipped in her chest at his words. _Baby_. Caleb had just called her baby, and boy did it feel good. She could really get used to this.

"Goodnight," She whispered back, her smile seeping through in her voice. Her sentence was incomplete, a little something missing from the end, but she still couldn't quite pluck up the courage to say it. They weren't even _there_ yet, anyway.

As he lay next to her, his lips pressed to her forehead, Caleb thought about how he wished more than anything that they were.

* * *

 **I'm seriously finding it hard not to make this story move forward really really realllllly quickly. Help. On another note, I'm going to upload the first chapter of a new multi-chapter story soon, so keep your eyes peeled for that one. As always, I appreciate each and every one of your reviews! x**


	11. Chapter Eleven

**It's been like five thousand years since I've updated this… oops, sorry! But exciting things are about to start happening in the storyline, and I've kinda been hit with a wave of motivation so hopefully I'll be posting chapters more frequently from now on. Plus, it's less than three weeks until Haleb come back to us, and I have a feeling that they'll give me a lot of inspiration.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter Eleven

* * *

Caleb's eyes fluttered open as he felt a gentle brush against his collar bone; he squinted, unaccustomed to the bright light that was filtering through the curtains in Hanna's bedroom.

Wait. Why was he in Hanna's bedroom?

It took a second for everything to come back to him – the last few days, the events of the previous evening, the reasons for which Hanna was currently cuddled up against him in her bed. And that's when he came to realise that the tickle on his chest had been Hanna's nose, moving against the small area of exposed skin above his shirt as she unconsciously nuzzled her head closer to his body. He smiled to himself, moving his hand down to brush the curtain of blonde hair that had fallen in front of her face behind her shoulder. She was still fast asleep, her lips parted a little and her soft features completely relaxed, and Caleb couldn't quite bring himself to look away.

Her face seemed to soften further when Caleb began to rub back and forth across her temple with the pad of his thumb; then, unable to resist, he leant down to press a slow kiss to her hairline. She stirred a little at the contact, and Caleb instantly regretted disturbing her sleep until her eyes fluttered open and her gaze met his, immediately ridding his brain of any negative thoughts.

"Morning," She smiled up at him, lazily. Her eyes looked as if they could fall closed again any second, but the warmth which emanated from them was undeniable.

"Morning," He whispered back, his eyes tracing over her features before they landed on her lips, lingering there for a little longer than he had intended them to.

"So why are you in my bed?" She joked after a beat, changing the tone of the conversation completely. She stretched her body out against his with her arms up above her head, a soft moan of satisfaction escaping her lips as she did so.

Caleb chuckled, rubbing her back rhythmically with his hand as she nuzzled her face back into his neck once more, "No idea," He played along, "But I'm not mad about it."

"Me either," Hanna concluded as she brought her arms back down and snaked one around Caleb's waist, the other coming to rest on his clothed chest, "I still can't believe that my mom didn't kick you out," She added, her voice a little more serious than it had been previously.

"She loves me," Caleb smirked, "It's hardly a surprise."

"Mmmm, I'm not so sure about that," Hanna giggled, pretending to disagree with him. "But seriously, she let you stay after she saw us kissing in the kitchen yesterday, she must _really_ love you."

Caleb's face screwed up in mild disgust, "I'd forgotten about her walking in on us until now, thanks for reminding me."

Hanna smiled, leaning up to press a quick kiss against his lips in the hopes of replacing the awkward memory with a new, more pleasant one. Their situation all of a sudden felt very domestic – waking up in bed together, spending the morning in each others arms, pressing quick kisses to the others lips as their hands weaved through the others hair. And when Hanna stopped her actions with the intention of getting out of bed, Caleb pulled her back with a hand around her waist, connecting their lips once again in a decidedly more intense kiss. She didn't do anything to stop him, unapologetically accepting and enjoying the long, languid kisses that Caleb was offering to her as her mouth moved in synchrony with his.

A purposeful cough broke them apart. "I let Caleb stay in the hopes that you were telling me the truth about that play," Ashley sighed from the doorway, "But I guess I was being naïve."

Hanna and Caleb shared a knowing look before they both craned their necks upward to look at Ashley. Slowly, Hanna pushed herself up and sat against the headboard, sucking her full bottom lip into her mouth as she decided on what, if anything, she should say. "Mom, I-"

"Save it," Ashley interrupted her, "Just, both start getting ready for school." She turned to face Caleb, who had a furious blush spread across his cheeks; he'd known Ashley for years now, and the situation was almost as embarrassing for him as it was for Hanna. "Caleb, you can go back to your place to get ready."

"Of course," He agreed, nodding as he pushed himself up and out of Hanna's bed.

Hanna rolled her eyes, though she wasn't going to argue with anyone. "I'll come down and see you out," She smiled as she turned to face Caleb, still refusing to make eye contact with her mom.

All three of them walked down the stairs in silence, making their way straight to the front door in the hopes of breaking the awkward tension in the room as soon as possible. Caleb cleared his throat, "I'll uh, see you at school Han," He gave her a tight smile before turning to face Ashley, "I'm sorry about everything Mrs Marin, thanks for letting me stay."

Ashley gave Caleb a nod and a small smile of acknowledgement before she opened the door and he shuffled out. "Since when does he call me 'Mrs Marin'?" She asked her daughter after a beat, closing the door before she made her way into the kitchen to grab some coffee, which had been brewing for a little too long by this point.

"Since you kicked him out of our house and treated him like a misbehaving child," Hanna retorted, rolling her eyes as she followed her mom through the house, "He didn't do anything wrong."

Ashley sighed, placing her newly-filled mug down on the kitchen island, "Hanna, you know the rules about the no boy zone."

"You know Caleb!" She shot back, "You've always said that he's an exception to the rules, he's my best friend."

"Your best friend who you now kiss, apparently," Ashley raised her eyebrows, "Which means that the rules now apply to him too."

"That isn't fair," Hanna huffed, grabbing her favourite purple mug and filling it with what was left of the over-brewed coffee, "We're not even dating."

"Then what are you?" Ashley enquired, her lips curving up a little as if to suggest that she didn't believe her daughter one bit.

Hanna didn't reply; instead, she took a long sip of coffee, shrugged her shoulders, and pulled up a stool to sit at the kitchen island.

"Hanna," Her mom encouraged, her voice a little softer, "What's going on with you two?"

"I don't know what we are," Hanna mumbled before pressing the mug to her lips again.

Ashley sighed, pulling up a stool next to her daughter, "Sweetie, if you're dating Caleb, then that's absolutely fine with me. You know I-"

"We're not dating," Hanna snapped, cutting her off, "He doesn't want to date me."

"He said that?" Ashley asked, her voice full of both surprise and sympathy.

"No," Hanna shook her head after gulping down the last of her coffee, "But I can tell."

Ashley reached out to put a hand on her daughter's arm, "Do you want to date _him_?" She asked gently, already sure that she knew what was going through her daughter's mind – she could always tell what Hanna was thinking, she'd had almost two decades worth of practice.

Hanna looked up to meet her mother's gaze, a few tell-tale tears beginning to gather at the corners of her eyes. "No," She concluded, her voice wobbling a little, "He's my best friend. I don't want to ruin anything."

"If anything was going to be ruined, I think the damage would have been done by now," Ashley smiled a little, "I mean, I don't need to know all the details, but from what I've seen your relationship isn't exactly platonic anymore."

Hanna cringed a little at her mom's words – the thought of her knowing about what she and Caleb had… _done_ embarrassed her to no end.

"From my experience, when best friends go from being best friends to something more, there's always more to it than meets the eye," Ashley continued, reaching up to tuck a piece of hair behind Hanna's ear, "Why don't you talk to Caleb about it?"

"There's nothing to talk about," Hanna concluded, straightening herself up and wiping at her eyes with the back of her hand, "We're just friends," _Friends with benefits, whatever the hell that means_. She cleared her throat, "I'm gonna go get ready for school."

Ashley nodded at her with a sympathetic smile, watching Hanna's expression intently as she walked back up the stairs to her bedroom. She had a pretty good idea of what was going on, and something in her heart told her that she'd managed to figure out her daughter's feelings before she'd managed to figure them out for herself.

* * *

As soon as she'd thrown on an impromptu outfit and haphazardly applied her everyday makeup, Hanna stormed out of the house without saying another word to her mom and made her way straight to Caleb's apartment. She used the key that he had given her almost as soon as he'd moved in to open the front door, and walked straight up to where he was sitting on the end of his bed, scrolling through his phone absentmindedly.

Caleb looked up as she approached him, furrowing his eyebrows when he saw the expression on her face. "Han?" He questioned as she stood in front of him in complete silence, "What are you doing here? What's wrong?"

Hanna only shrugged, moving to sit next to him on his bed and resting her head on his shoulder. Caleb understood that she didn't want to talk about whatever had upset her yet, so he simply shut his phone off and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, his lips pressing a quick kiss to the top of her head.

"I didn't know what to tell her," Hanna murmured after a minute or so, breaking the silence, "She asked me what was going on between us and I didn't know what to tell her."

"What _did_ you tell her?" He enquired as Hanna finally lifted her head so that their gazes could meet.

She smiled a little, "Nothing, really. I just told her that we weren't dating and she didn't believe me at all."

Caleb smiled back at her for a second; then, his eyebrows furrowed, "Was she mad at me?"

Hanna rolled her eyes, "No, she wasn't mad at you."

"Good," He sighed in relief; a weight had clearly been lifted from his shoulders. "It's just that your mom is the closest thing I've ever had to a mom of my own, and I wouldn't want to, you know."

"I know," Hanna nodded with a smile, bringing up hand up to rest on his other shoulder, "But she isn't mad, I swear."

Caleb had grown up without parents – he'd never met his father and his mother had abandoned him as a young child, leaving him to be thrown between sets of foster parents who, essentially, couldn't have cared less about him. When he'd moved to Rosewood and discovered that his latest foster 'mother' was of exactly the same mindset, he'd made the decision to rid himself of the system all together and to get a place of his own. It wasn't easy; he had spent days on end completing small 'hacking' jobs for people at school whilst simultaneously setting up his own business in order to earn the money that he needed, but in the end, the small apartment that he had come to call his own was totally worth it. Unsurprisingly, the cheques that he was supposed to receive from his foster 'mother' were never to be seen again, but he couldn't bring himself to care.

Hanna had stood by him through it all, never once leaving his side over the past couple of years. He'd become closer to her than he had ever been to anyone else in his life, and in turn, he'd also formed a very close bond with Ashley. She'd by no means brought him up, or filled the void that was left by the complete lack of family that he'd had as a child, but she had always been there to give him advice, and offered him a helping hand on the numerous occasions that he hadn't quite been able to make rent. He was eternally grateful for both Ashley and Hanna, and would never want anything, even if it was his 'relationship' with Hanna, to upset either one of them.

Sensing that he was still a little worried about the situation, Hanna brought her hand up to cup Caleb's jaw, turning his head gently so that he was facing her. "I promise, she's not mad," She assured him, "She's just… confused." _And she isn't the only one_.

"Good, I believe you," Caleb nodded, though Hanna was sure that he was just saying it to appease her, "Come on, we'd better set off or we'll be late for first period."

Hanna accepted the offer of his hand as he pulled her up off of his bed; he grabbed his rucksack and slung it haphazardly over his other shoulder once they were both standing, then zipped up the front of his jacket. Their hands remained joined as they left the apartment and began walking towards Rosewood High in a comfortable silence.

As it turned out, they both had a lot to think about.

Around half way through the journey, Hanna reached into her pocket in order to grab her phone, which had been vibrating non-stop for the past five minutes. Once it was in her hand, she rolled her eyes despondently, shutting it straight off again and shoving it back into her jeans.

"Who was it?" Caleb asked, curious as to why she'd dismissed whoever was trying to contact her so quickly.

"Nobody," She mumbled before sighing, "Some girl in my bio class has invited me to her party on Facebook and I keep getting notifications from the group, it's annoying."

"Bridget?"

"Yeah, Bridget," Hanna confirmed, raising an eyebrow as she turned to face Caleb, "How did you know?"

"She invited me too," He chuckled, "We have English together."

Hanna nodded in understanding, "Are you going?"

He shrugged, "I wasn't going to, but I could be persuaded." A smile tugged at the corners of his lips.

"By…" Hanna smirked, feigning innocence.

"By the presence of a certain someone," He chuckled, "What do you think, you up for going to a party on Saturday?"

"Yeah, I think we should go," She decided, squeezing his hand, "Things have been way too stressful lately, I could really use some of that blue punch that Bridget always puts out at her parties."

Caleb laughed, "Then we'll go," He agreed, smiling down at Hanna as she gazed up at him. Their eyes flicked to each others lips for a fleeting second before he leaned down and connected them in a soft kiss, which Hanna intentionally lengthened when she reached up and planted her hand firmly at the base of his neck, effectively keeping his mouth attached to hers. One kiss became two and then three as she moved her other hand around his neck and both of his went to her hips, keeping her in place as his tongue probed her mouth.

They had almost forgotten that they'd reached their destination and were now standing right in front of the school's entrance until Hanna felt Alison's hand come to rest on her shoulder, and an unnecessarily loud cough, which she presumed was courtesy of Spencer, coming from behind her. "You guys want us to get you a room, or are you gonna make it to first period without jumping into each other's pants?" Alison smirked as the pair broke apart, Caleb's hand coming up to his mouth to wipe away any traces of the bright pink lipstick that Hanna was wearing.

"A room would be great, actually," Hanna remarked sarcastically as she, along with Caleb, Alison, and Spencer, began walking up the stone steps to the school, "I don't know if I can bear to sit through an hour of learning about the branches of government this morning."

Alison scoffed, and Spencer rolled her eyes at her friend's unwillingness to learn, "It's actually pretty interesting if you'd give it a chance," She remarked.

"Teach me about the new branch stores that Chanel are opening and then maybe I'll find it interesting," Hanna quipped, "Politics isn't my thing."

From then on, the conversation turned to Bridget's party, which, as it turned out, they'd all been invited to; apparently she had a history of inviting practically everyone that she made eye contact with. Alison made no further comment about Hanna and Caleb kissing when Sean wasn't around; neither of them had told her anything about their 'friends with benefits' deal, so Hanna couldn't quite understand why her usually nosey friend wasn't making a big deal about it. Clearly Alison had inferred something more from Hanna's recent behaviour when she was around Caleb; should she be worried that people were starting to work out what was going on between them without her even having to tell them?

No, of course not.

People were supposed to believe that she and Caleb were together, especially Sean, so it could do no harm, right? Hanna shook her head as she wondered how things had gotten so… _complicated_. It had seemed like such a simple idea when she'd first brought it up with Caleb; a quick peck on the lips and a hand hold every time they saw Sean and everything would be ok. But now it was so much more than that – it had completely changed her relationship with her best friend, and she still wasn't sure whether it was for better or for worse.

At the feeling of his warm hand sliding around her waist under her tee-shirt, she decided that it wasn't all that bad. "You busy tonight?" She whispered up at him as they approached her locker, close enough to his ear that none of the others could hear. She needed to tell him how she really felt, what was going through her mind, and tonight would be the perfect opportunity to do so.

Caleb shook his head, a small smile tugging at his lips.

"Can I invite myself to your place to watch a movie or something?" She looked up at him with the best puppy dog eyes that she could muster, turning so that she could place both of her hands on his chest.

Caleb bit his lip, his face suddenly falling a little, "We have a chem test tomorrow," He sighed, though the look in his eyes told Hanna that he'd already given in to her, "I should really study a little tonight."

"Please," She smiled, knowing that she'd already won, "We can order pizza and I'll even study with you for a bit." She thought she heard Alison make a snarky comment about 'study' having a double meaning, but she chose to ignore it.

"Fine," Caleb rolled his eyes, though he had a wide grin plastered across his face. He reached down to tuck a strand of Hanna's hair behind her ear, "Come over whenever."

Hanna let out a little victory shriek and flung herself forward, pressing a hard kiss to Caleb's mouth. She pulled away slowly, rubbing her lips together as she looked up at him with glistening eyes, "See you at lunch."

Caleb reciprocated her warm gaze, "See you at lunch." He was unable to resist leaning down to press one final kiss to her lips before Hanna and Spencer walked away, heading to their first class.

He was already looking forward to the moment that he'd see her walking back towards him a couple of hours later.

* * *

 **Things are about to go a little bit pear-shaped… and then a little bit more pear-shaped – I will say no more. Hope you all liked the chapter, and as always, reviews are very much appreciated x**


	12. Chapter Twelve

**Exams are finally over, so now I can get back to updating my babies – I know it's been two months, but I hope this update makes up for it! Having said that, this chapter may not be everybody's favourite… oopsy. I promise that there are happier chapters to come.**

 **Enjoy anyway!**

* * *

Chapter Twelve

* * *

The second that Caleb opened the door to a very excited looking Hanna, she flung herself forward into his arms, wrapping herself around him as tight as she possibly could.

"Hi you," He chuckled, pressing a kiss to the top of her head as he returned her hug enthusiastically. Clearly she had missed him as much as he'd missed her during the couple of hours that they'd been apart.

Hanna pulled back, a bright smile plastered across her face as their eyes connected. "Have you ordered the pizza yet?" She asked excitedly, prompting Caleb to shake his head at her in amusement.

He let out a little laugh at her forwardness – she hadn't even said hello to him yet and she was already enquiring as to where their food was. "No, I was just about to," He smiled down at her, his hand sliding from her back to her waist, "Pepperoni okay?" Pepperoni was the only pizza they ever ordered – it was Hanna's favourite.

"Perfect," She nodded as she walked over to the couch, situating herself on one side before splaying her legs out across the other two seats, "How's your studying been going?"

"Okay I guess," Caleb shrugged as he joined her on the sofa, lifting her legs up and then placing them back down onto his lap, "I haven't really gotten a lot done." The truth was, he hadn't really gotten a lot done because he'd been thinking about a certain pizza date with a certain someone that evening. If only she knew.

Hanna nodded in understanding, biting her bottom lip as her eyes trailed carefully over his features. As strange as it sounded, she loved just looking at him – his soft smile and kind eyes made her feel instantly safe and at home.

"So, which movie do you wanna watch?" Caleb enquired, his voice lowering as he noticed her gaze flicking from his eyes to his lips. He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, his thumb grazing her cheekbone gently as he brought his hand back down.

"Let's not watch a movie," She breathed out as she finally looked him in the eyes. She bit her bottom lip, unsure how he would react to what she was about to suggest.

"So, you invited yourself over for pizza and a movie, and now you don't wanna watch a movie?" He smirked. He wasn't surprised at all – Hanna changed her mind all the time, she was a free spirit and he loved it.

Hanna smiled and rolled her eyes before her facial expression turned to one of unadulterated anticipation, "Let's do something else instead." Her blue orbs glistened as an idea popped into her head.

"Like what?" Caleb raised his eyebrows. He had his own ideas about where this was heading, but he didn't want to assume anything; he'd learnt not to do that with Hanna, she could be very unpredictable when she wanted to be.

"Let's play videogames."

Hanna's suggestion took him completely by surprise – that definitely was not what he was expecting. As far as he knew, the only time that Hanna had ever touched a videogame controller was when she had accidentally stepped on one of his and broken it. "Videogames?" He laughed, "You hate videogames."

"But you don't," She shrugged, a smirk playing at the corner of her lips, "You watch soppy romance movies with me, so now I wanna play videogames with you."

Caleb felt a pleasant warmth flooding over him as he realised that she was being serious. The fact that she would do something that she didn't like just to make him happy meant more to him than she could have known. "Really?" He smiled back at her, "You'll actually play videogames with me? All evening?"

"Sure, you'll just have to teach me," She shrugged, picking up one of his controllers from the floor. She studied it from all angles, looking at the black plastic like it was some sort of wild animal.

Caleb chuckled at the expression on her face. "I'm not sure I'm _that_ good of a teacher," He joked, pushing her legs off of his lap before standing up with the intention of turning the console on.

Hanna rolled her eyes, "Just sit back down," She instructed him, "It was my idea, I'm setting it up."

Caleb held his hands up in resignation as he returned to his place on the couch, watching Hanna's every move as she strutted towards the TV. He smiled as she fumbled with the wires behind the screen, her brow furrowed in concentration.

"How do you turn this thing on?" She murmured after five minutes – she was clearly getting nowhere, and he could tell that it was frustrating her.

Caleb rolls his eyes as he walked over to her – she was so stubborn. "You need to switch it on here," He instructed, pointing to a little black switch, which Hanna eventually pressed in defeat.

They both shuffled back over to the couch; Hanna waited for Caleb to sit down first before she positioned herself in between his legs, leaning back onto his chest. He smiled as he realised what she was doing, and wrapped one arm around her waist before starting the game and handing her the controller.

"One game, then you need to order the pizza," She told him, "I can't play any more than one game on an empty stomach."

"Deal," He laughed as 'go' flashed up on the screen, indicating that Hanna should start playing.

"How do I go forward?" She asked in annoyance, scrunching up her nose as she turned the piece of plastic over in her hands, searching for the right button to press.

"You mean accelerate?" Caleb chuckled.

Hanna rolled her eyes, "Yeah, accelerate, whatever."

"This button here," He informed her, reaching up with his free hand to bring her fingers over to the little black square. He brushed his thumb over hers as she pressed the button, and the car on the screen in front of them began to move.

"Oh," She breathed out, "Well, you should probably keep your hand there in case I forget."

Caleb could tell that she was smiling without even looking at her face. "But then I can't reach my drink," He smirked, removing his hand from hers in order to take a sip of his mountain dew. He swallowed it down a lot louder than was necessary, prompting Hanna to roll her eyes.

"If you were a good bo-" She stopped herself, feeling her cheeks turning red as she realised what she'd almost said, "Person, then you'd sacrifice yourself for me." She turned her attention back to the game straight away, hoping that Caleb hadn't noticed her mistake.

Unbeknown to her, Caleb was grinning behind her as he registered her little slip up; he decided to ignore it, knowing full well that Hanna would be feeling embarrassed. He couldn't help but feel a little spark of hope igniting within him as he realised that she had almost referred to him as her boyfriend. "I'm not that generous, I need my caffeine," He laughed, taking another sip of his drink.

Hanna let out a little giggle before she began concentrating hard on the TV screen, her fingers moving over the buttons of the controller rapidly as she tried desperately to learn how to play the game properly. This was turning out to be a lot harder than she had originally thought it would be.

"You're so cute when you concentrate," Caleb whispered against her ear as he watched her try to navigate her 'car' around a particularly hard corner, her eyebrows furrowed and her cheeks beginning to turn a little red. He was more than glad that she'd suggested playing videogames now – he could sit with her like this for an eternity and still never get bored of it.

"I'm not concentrating, this is easy," She shrugged, brushing his comment off.

"Yes you are, your nose is all crinkled up and you keep biting your lip," Caleb laughed, knowing how competitive she could get. He leaned his head down and nuzzled his nose into her hair, before pressing a line of soft kisses down to her neck. He could feel Hanna squirming a little at the contact, which only encouraged him to pull her closer and extend his line of kisses down to the exposed skin of her shoulder.

Five seconds later, Hanna let out a little shriek and threw her controller down onto the floor as she crashed her car and the game came to an abrupt end. "You distracted me!" She yelled as Caleb pulled back from her, loosening his grip around her waist a little.

"I did not," He laughed, "I was just trying to help."

Hanna shook her head, rolling her eyes as she crossed her arms over her chest, the white tank top that she was wearing rising up a little as she did so. "That was so not fair," She mumbled, but it was hard to be angry as Caleb nuzzled his nose back into her hair once more.

"Not my fault," He whispered, pressing a chaste kiss to her head.

Hanna smiled, feeling all traces of annoyance leaving her body. "I think it was," She pretended to argue back as she turned to face him, moving so that she was sitting on his lap, straddling him. It was clear from the look of adoration plastered across her features that she wasn't in the slightest bit bothered by her 'failure' anymore.

Caleb reached forward and traced his thumb slowly across her bottom lip, watching her eyes as they flickered down to his mouth and then back up again. After a beat, he leaned forward and connected their lips in a delicate kiss; he had initially intended for it to be a quick peck, but it soon became a slow and languid display of affection. Both were quite content to sit for minutes on end as they explored each others mouths, neither one of them trying to turn it into something more.

Hanna felt completely at ease as she pulled away, Caleb's fingers drawing slow circles on the bare skin at the bottom of her back. She smiled at him dreamily, playing with a few strands of his short hair as they just drank each other in.

And then she remembered why she had invited herself to Caleb's apartment that evening in the first place.

She needed to tell him how she felt – tonight had only served to confirm that. As she looked into his eyes, she knew that she didn't want to be 'just friends'. She didn't want to be 'friends with benefits', whatever the hell that meant. She wanted to be a couple. As much as she tried to convince herself that Caleb didn't want a relationship like she did, she was having a lot of trouble believing it. The way he looked at her didn't scream 'friends' to her – it was a look of something so much deeper than just 'having fun'.

"You okay?" Caleb murmured as he brushed his thumb across her cheek, noticing that her attention seemed to have diverted from him to something else. He could always tell when something was wrong with her.

"I'm fine," She confirmed, rubbing her lips together nervously, "Can we talk?"

"We are talking," Caleb smiled as he raised his eyebrows, a little confused as to why her sudden change in attitude had occurred.

"No, I mean," She sighed, readjusting herself on his lap, "Can we _talk_."

Caleb nodded, immediately understanding that Hanna wanted to discuss something more serious than who was going to take the next turn at the videogame. "About what?" He asked gently, sensing how nervous she was.

Hanna swallowed loudly. "Us."

"What do you mean us?" He mumbled, furrowing his eyebrows. He was pretty sure that they'd already come to an agreement on where they stood; he wasn't happy about it, he wanted more, but being this close to Hanna was better than being just friends.

With one hand on his chest, she pushed herself up and off of his lap, before sliding onto the couch next to him. Her unease was evident; she just hoped more than anything that Caleb would react positively to what she was about to say. "Caleb…" She breathed out shakily, "I don't want to ruin this."

"Ruin what?" He questioned, still very confused – he hated it when Hanna went all cryptic on him.

"This, us," She gestured between them, "Our friendship."

Caleb let out a short laugh, "What do you mean 'ruin our friendship'? Why would that happen?" He had a pre-set idea in his mind of where this conversation was heading, and he didn't like it at all. She was going to end things with him. She wanted to go back to what they were before. She didn't want to kiss him, or make love to him, or be anything more than friends. The thought sent a sharp stab of pain through his chest.

Hanna placed her hand on his shoulder, sensing his worry. "I wouldn't want things to be weird between us, if this thing that we've got going on ever stopped."

"Why would it stop?" He asked, seemingly offended. He reached up and gently pushed Hanna's hand away from his shoulder as he felt himself beginning to get upset.

She shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know, if you met a girl or-"

"I have you," Caleb reminded her, turning on the couch so that they were facing each other fully, "I don't want any other girl."

Hanna took a deep breath in, "But we're not together."

"Right," He rolled his eyes, turning away from her, unable to look into her eyes without feeling like he was about to crumble under her gaze.

This was it. She was about to tell her best friend that she wanted to be something more than friends with benefits, that she actually wanted to be able to call him her boyfriend and mean it. She wanted to be able to kiss him without her friends questioning it, and hold his hand in front of her mom, and go on and _actual_ dates. She just hoped more than anything in the world that he felt the same way.

She took a deep breath in before speaking, her voice a little shaky, "Caleb, what I'm trying to say is that I'm scared about what will happen if we stay as we are, about what it will do to us, about the pressure that it's putting on us. I don't want us to be 'friends with benefits' anymore, I-"

"I'm your friend and that's it, I get it Hanna," Caleb interrupted, exhaling in annoyance as he shook his head, "That's all I'll ever be to you, right?"

Hanna was completely taken aback. "What?" She furrowed her brow, a little thrown off by his premature response. She hadn't even vocalised half of the things that she wanted to tell him.

He shrugged, "You'll never see me as anything more than a friend." He was clearly upset by what he thought Hanna was trying to say, and had distanced himself from her a little by increasing the space between them on the couch.

Hanna could feel her heart pounding in her chest – she was sure that she was about to pass out. He was getting completely the wrong idea. "Caleb, that's not-"

"It's cool, no more of this friends with benefits crap, that's fine with me," He laughed, holding his hands out – it was a bitter laugh, and Hanna swore she could see tears welling up in his eyes, "It was dumb anyway."

Hanna felt her heart sink at his words. The last few weeks had made her feel more special than she had ever felt in her life, and Caleb was the sole reason for that. Hearing him refer to their time together as 'dumb' stung worse than she ever could have imagined. "I can't believe you just said that," She mumbled, her voice barely a whisper as she tried desperately not to shed a tear.

Her whole world was crumbling around her. This evening was supposed to be so different.

Caleb was torn; he was angry at Hanna, yet seeing her so hurt and vulnerable made his heart ache. But, in his mind, she'd just told him that she didn't want to be with him anymore. She didn't want to be anything more than friends. The past weeks had meant nothing to her. And he didn't think he could stand to comfort her when he knew that she would never feel the same way as he did.

"You know what, I think you should go now," He suggested, trying to keep his voice steady, "I'll just see you at school." He couldn't look at Hanna; he couldn't meet her sad gaze. He couldn't let himself fall any deeper in love with her when he knew they had no future together, at least not as a couple.

Hanna pushed herself straight up and off of the couch as she registered what he had said, not even bothering to hide her upset anymore. "Or not," She spat back at him as tears rolled down her cheeks, before grabbing her bag and heading straight for the front door. The very person that she was in love with had just shattered her heart into a thousand pieces.

"Hanna-" Caleb tried desperately as he realised that he might have been a little too harsh; he hated seeing her like this more than anything in the world, even if she had just upset him too.

But the door had slammed shut before another word could slip from between his lips.

* * *

 **Forgive me. Things will get better soon.**

 **On a more positive note, WHO'S EXCITED TO SEE CALEB PROPOSING TO HANNA ON TUESDAY? The capitals were very necessary. I'm so excited I could actually cry.**

 **I don't even know where this chapter came from to be honest – I don't think I've ever written one so quickly, but I'm not mad about it. I should be updating Safe Haven within the next couple of days too!**

 **As always, reviews are very very much appreciated x**


	13. Chapter Thirteen

**Kinda amazed at the fact that I've actually stuck at this story for thirteen chapters, because let's face it, I'm a flake and that never happens. There's a first for everything I guess. ANYWAY, sorry about the not-so-nice way in which the last chapter ended, I hope this one makes up for it. Kinda. Maybe.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter Thirteen

* * *

"Hanna, this is the last time I'm calling you down!"

Hanna reached over to her speakers and turned the volume up from eight to ten. Her 'sad song' playlist had been on repeat for the last hour, and her mother asking her to come downstairs for dinner wasn't going to deter her from her current preoccupation.

She figured that if she couldn't hear her mom yelling, it might be easier to ignore her.

Her current record was two hours – that had happened on the night that Sean had spread _that_ rumour about her. She'd never listened to her sad song playlist for any longer than that, but she figured that tonight might be an exception.

He wasn't answering her calls.

He wasn't answering her texts.

She just wanted to make things right, but that was a lot easier said than done when the person that she wanted to speak to more than anyone else in the world was refusing to make any kind of contact with her. She hated herself for making the first step – she was still angry at Caleb for jumping to conclusions, and for saying the things that he'd said. But she knew that he hadn't meant any of them, not really.

"Stop, you promised yourself you wouldn't cry anymore," She mumbled to herself, swiping at a tear as it slipped down her reddened cheek. Two days of crying was enough. She needed to pull herself together, attempt to mend the shattered pieces of her heart that Caleb had left behind.

"Hanna!"

Hanna rolled her eyes and threw her phone – which was burning up from having been used so much – down onto the bed as her mom's voice echoed through the house.

She wasn't going to win this fight.

Walking into the kitchen in silence, she pulled up a chair in front of the plate of chicken and salad that her mom had prepared for her. Ashley didn't say a word, simply watching her daughter as she moved a tomato around her plate with her fork.

"Hanna," Ashley eventually broke the silence, "Please stop scraping your cutlery on the china like that, it's giving me a headache."

Hanna simply ignored her mom and carried on, her features void of any emotion.

"Hanna!"

This time she threw her fork down onto the table, her head flying up as she met her mom's angry stare. "What?" She shot back at her.

"I know you're mad at Caleb, but please don't take it out on me," Ashley tried, "Or my crockery."

At the mention of his name, Hanna squeezed her eyes shut, and willed the tears that were welling up in them to go away. She wasn't ready to talk about him, or what had happened between them, just yet.

Her daughter's silence was enough for Ashley to know how she was feeling. She let out a deep sigh, and reached over the table to take her daughter's hand in hers. "Hanna, have you heard from him since your argument?"

"No," Hanna shook her head, a tear escaping from her left eye and rolling down her cheek despite her efforts, "I've called him and I've texted him like a thousand times, but he's ignoring me."

Realising that they weren't going to be eating their food any time soon, Ashley stood up, and led her daughter over to the couch in the living room, where Hanna sat down. "Have you seen him in person? Spoken to him at school?"

Hanna simply shook her head and buried her face in her hands as the tears began to fall faster.

"Maybe you should talk to him," Ashley smiled, "He'll understand."

Hanna let out a short laugh, "I already tried that, and look how it turned out."

Ashley sighed, before moving to sit on the couch beside her daughter. "I hate seeing you so upset, Hanna," She said sadly, placing a hand on Hanna's arm, "I know how much he means to you, and I don't want to see your friendship being thrown away over something like this."

Hanna sucked her bottom lip into her mouth, and stared blankly at the other side of the living room as a tear slid down her cheek. She nodded, agreeing with her mom. She didn't want to let go of their friendship either. Caleb meant more to her than some stupid argument.

"If he won't listen to what you have to say about this relationship or," Ashley waved her hands around in front of her, "Whatever you call it, then I think you need to start fresh. Go back to what you were. You never had any problems when the two of you were just friends."

"You really think so?" Hanna murmured, scratching her head. She didn't like what her mom was saying, but she very rarely went against her advice, especially concerning relationships.

Ashley nodded, "Anything's better than what you're doing now. Go to his place, talk to him in person. He can't ignore you if you do that."

Hanna took a deep breath in as she stood, before reaching up to take her scrunchie out of her hair; it proceeded to fall around her face in loose waves, a little dishevelled, but aesthetically pleasing nonetheless. "I need to go and get changed then," She mumbled under her breath, "I can't go over there looking like this and expect him to want to be my friend again."

Ashley rolled her eyes, "Hanna, he's still your friend," She sighed, "And you know that Caleb doesn't care about what you look like. He'd still love you if you went over there in a garbage bag and a pair of slippers."

Hanna bit her lip, and let out a small laugh at the thought of doing just that. _Like she'd be seen dead in a garbage bag._ But despite everything, she knew that her mom was right. Caleb didn't care about what she wore, or what her hair looked like, or how her makeup was applied – all he cared about was the fact that she was _Hanna_.

In a world where so many people knew her as the homecoming queen, supposedly void of any personality, that meant a lot more to her than some stupid complement about her dress.

Though, she'd certainly received a _lot_ of those from Caleb, on more than one occasion.

Why was she being so stupid about this? She was still Hanna, and he was still Caleb – they hadn't changed since the other day, they were still the same people they'd always been. He was her best friend, of course she could talk to him.

"I'll be back later," She smiled at her mom, deciding that she didn't need to change out of her sweatpants and baggy t-shirt after all, "Thanks, mom. For everything."

Ashley nodded her daughter, and then watched as she walked out the door, shutting it carefully behind her. She rubbed her hand over her forehead in an attempt to soothe the headache that had gradually crept up on her over the last half an hour.

Her daughter was stubborn, but so was Caleb.

At least, once they were friends again, they would have a chance at making things work between them. Ashley knew love when she saw it, and the looks that Hanna and Caleb exchanged whenever they were with one another weren't exactly subtle.

She couldn't think of anyone better suited to her daughter.

* * *

 _Come on, just do it_.

Hanna brought her hand up to press the buzzer outside Caleb's apartment block for the fifth time, before chickening out… for the fifth time. A week ago, she'd have strolled right in without even buzzing – she knew the code, and would usually enter the building of her own accord before knocking on Caleb's door. But now she felt like Caleb might slam the door back in her face if she did.

Knowing that she wouldn't press it at all if she hesitated for any longer, Hanna took a leap of faith and pushed her finger against the button twice. Her heart hammered in her chest as she waited for Caleb to come to the door – surely he would at least do that much, he couldn't have known that it would be her. She was thankful that the building was so old that it didn't have an intercom, because she had no idea how she would have convinced him to let her in if it did.

Footsteps.

He _was_ going to answer.

Hanna hadn't thought that it was possible for her heart to beat any faster, but she'd been wrong – it felt like it was about to leap right out of her chest at any moment. "I can't," She mumbled to herself as she felt tears beginning to well in her eyes, nausea suddenly overcoming her body, "Oh god, I can't do this."

She turned and started running away from the door, away from the apartment block, away from him.

As she neared the corner of the street, she heard a door opening behind her, and hoped to god that it wasn't him.

"Hanna? What are you doing?"

 _Crap_.

Now, her heart felt like it had stopped completely.

She was frozen in place, unable to move, unable to speak.

"Hanna, are you okay?" Came Caleb's voice once more – Hanna could tell that he was getting closer and closer to her. Yet she still felt unable to move her feet, to walk in either direction.

Then, she felt his hand on her shoulder, applying a gentle pressure until she turned around.

He took one look at her pale face, tired eyes, and the tears streaming down her cheeks, and immediately pulled her into an all-consuming hug.

Hanna wrapped her arms around him straight away, the tears beginning to fall harder and faster as they stood in silence – a silence which was broken every so often by her whimpers. Caleb started to sway them back and forth a little as he rubbed her back with his hands, the soothing motion eventually calming Hanna down enough that she could form a sentence.

"I'm so- I'm so sorry," She snivelled, her face pressed up against his shoulder as a fresh batch of tears ran down her cheeks, "I didn't, I never wanted to-"

"Shhh," Caleb interrupted her, pressing a short kiss to the top of her head. "I know," He murmured, "Me neither."

Her hands gripped the back of his sweatshirt a little tighter, and he pulled her in a little closer. They'd both missed being in such close proximity to one another – having completely ignored each other every time they'd seen one another at school over the last few days, the hug felt like nothing short of a dream.

Once Hanna's cries had died down a little, Caleb pulled back to look at her tearstained face, which she immediately lowered until she was staring at the ground. "Hey," He encouraged her, tilting her head back up by placing his index finger under her chin, "Please don't leave again, come inside. We can talk, about everything."

She nodded twice, quickly, and then proceeded to follow Caleb back up the street to the apartment block. Neither of them spoke, but there was a palpable tension in the air due to the presence of his hand on the small of her back.

As they entered Caleb's apartment, and he closed the door behind them, Hanna sucked in a deep breath. "Are you still mad at me?" She asked, her voice barely a whisper.

Caleb pulled away from her so that their eyes could meet, and furrowed his brow. "I wasn't mad at you Han, I was upset." Hanna nodded sadly before he took her hand in his, leading her over to sit on the couch, "I'm sorry if I came off as an ass at school today, when you passed me in the hall and I ignored you, but-"

"No, it's fine," Hanna smiled, "I get it, I was upset about everything too. You're not the only one who was doing the ignoring."

Caleb nodded in understanding, before scratching the hair at the nape of his neck – Hanna knew that he only did that when he was nervous. "So, what do we do now?" He asked sincerely, before clearing his throat, "I mean, do we-"

"I was speaking to my mom earlier," Hanna cut in, "About us."

Caleb raised an eyebrow, "Your mom knows about us?"

"Of course she does," Hanna rolled her eyes, "She's not stupid, Caleb." Caleb laughed, and they both visibly relaxed, sitting back in their seats before Hanna placed her hand on Caleb's knee, "Look, she thinks that we're better off as friends, and I agree. We never had any problems before the whole… fake boyfriend thing."

Caleb nodded slowly, taking in what Hanna had said, "So we just forget about the whole thing?"

Hanna closed her eyes for a moment to gather her thoughts – this was harder than she'd ever imagined it would be. "Yeah," She sighed, "If you're ok with that, too."

"If it means that I get to have you back in my life again, then yeah," He smiled, "I'd do anything not to lose you, Han."

Hanna felt her whole body flood with relief, and couldn't help but throw her arms around Caleb's shoulders, pulling him into a tight hug. "I-" She stopped herself, "I'm so happy."

"Me too," He murmured against the top of her head, before they both pulled back and met each others gaze.

There was a pause, a long moment of silence, in which neither of them knew what to do. Hanna pulled her bottom lip into her mouth and swallowed hard; Caleb took an audible breath in.

"Stay," He eventually murmured, breaking the silence, "Please don't go home yet."

"Caleb I-"

"Not to… do, anything," He breathed out apprehensively, "We can order pizza, have a drink, watch a movie. I've just missed you. Please stay."

Hanna licked her lips before nodding, "Yeah, ok," She agreed in a small voice, "I'd like that a lot."

* * *

"Ok, I think that's the sixth time your mom's called you, are you ever gonna answer?"

"Nooooo," Hanna rolled her eyes as she took a sip of her drink, "She's too clingy, I'm having fun here."

Caleb smiled and shook his head as he watched her take another gulp of her sixth beer, or was it her seventh? She'd never liked the stuff, but it was all that he had in his fridge, and she seemed more than happy to drink it; he knew that _he_ was drinking it to give his mind a break, to stop himself from thinking about everything that he wanted but didn't have… maybe she was doing the same.

"Maybe too much fun," He concluded as she hiccupped. He reached over to take the bottle from her, before downing the rest of the beverage himself.

"Hey," She scolded him, "I wanted to finish that, and you've already had more than me."

He shrugged, "I'm not a lightweight."

"I am _not_ a paperweight," Hanna shot back at him, "I can't believe you'd say that." She folded her arms across her chest and rolled her eyes.

Caleb couldn't help but let out a loud laugh, "Lightweight Han, I said lightweight," He informed her as he put his hand on her leg, "It means that you don't have to drink mu-"

"I know what it means," She interrupted him, "I just think paperweight sounds nicer."

"Ok, you definitely didn't need that beer," He chuckled, "We should get you home, your mom will be wondering where you are."

Hanna nodded and licked her lips, before attempting to stand up from the couch. As she did, she lost her footing and stumbled, falling back onto the couch – well, more on to Caleb's lap than anything else. She immediately burst out into fits of giggles, the alcohol in her system undoubtedly playing a role in both her instability and her jovial mood.

"Are you okay?" Caleb asked concernedly, though he couldn't help but smile a little as he looked down at her face – he had missed seeing her so happy.

Hanna nodded furiously before wrapping her arms around his waist, laughing against his sweatshirt, "I'm good," She confirmed, "I just think, I just think that maybe I need to go home."

"I think you do too," He agreed with a smile, unable to resist thinking about the way in which she was clinging onto him so tightly, "We have to walk though, I can't drive after drinking eight beers."

"That's fine," Hanna murmured, sounding a lot sleepier than she had ten seconds ago, "Just remember where my room is when you get there."

Caleb rolled his eyes, before standing up from the couch with Hanna in his arms. "I'm pretty sure I remember where it is," He quipped.

"Just checking," She smiled lazily, her eyes fluttering to a close.

Caleb tried to reach for her bag and shoes, but due to the way in which he was carrying her, it was next to impossible – one of his arms was holding her legs, and the other was around her back. "Han, I need you to wrap your legs around me when I lift you up, ok?"

"Mmmm-kay," She mumbled, tipping her head back, "Tell me when you're doing it."

"Now," He chuckled as he quickly moved his hands to her waist and hoisted her up, helping her a little as she attempted to hook her legs around him. He then moved one of his hands underneath her butt to support her, so that he could grab her belongings with his other hand whilst slipping his shoes on.

"Are we okay?" Came a mumble from against his shirt after a minute or two of quietness.

"We're okay," Caleb confirmed with a smile as he opened the door and walked through it, before shutting it behind them.

"No, I don't mean now," Hanna huffed, "I mean are _we_ okay, like are Hanna and Caleb okay?"

Caleb looked down at her and bit his lip – she had a funny habit of blurting out what was really on her mind when she was drunk, and this time was no exception. "Hanna and Caleb are just fine," He murmured, using the thumb of his hand that was holding her bag and shoes to brush a strand of hair away from her forehead, "We're gonna be just fine."

"Mmmmh, good." There was a moment of silence as she seemed to process his answer, before a satisfied smile spread over her face. She shivered slightly as they exited the building and walked out into the cold night air, before surprising Caleb by speaking again – he was sure that she had fallen asleep. "Remember when you were my rollercoaster?" She giggled, tucking her face in between his neck and shoulder.

Caleb simply furrowed his brow and looked down at her in confusion. "What?"

"You know, that time you carried me home," She tried, her voice slurring a little as she gripped at his sweatshirt, "And you were my rollercoaster."

"Ah," He laughed, smiling at the memory, "That time."

"Can you be my rollercoaster again?" She enquired innocently, brushing the tip of her nose against the warm skin of his neck.

Caleb took a few minutes to think back to that night, back to how everything had felt so fresh and new and exciting, so full of possibilities. He remembered not being able to sleep after he had tucked Hanna up in bed, only able to think about how her soft lips felt against his, about whether she would ever want to be with him as something more than just a cover-up.

But then he remembered that they'd tried that, or at least something like that, and that it hadn't worked.

This was better – 'just friends' was better. He couldn't risk losing her again.

"Yeah, I don't think so Han," He muttered as they approached the Marin residence; he couldn't quite bring himself to relive those memories, not when he knew that they had to go back to the way they were, before the whole 'fake boyfriend' thing happened.

"I don't think so what," Hanna's voice trailed off – Caleb had taken so long to answer that she'd clearly forgotten what she had asked in the first place.

"Never mind," He whispered as he watched her head drop forward onto his chest; she had finally given into the land of sleep, her lips slightly parted as gentle breaths slipped from between them. Caleb smiled as he studied her features for a moment, before reaching into her bag to grab her keys; he could have pressed the doorbell, but he didn't want to wake Ashley. It was past midnight, after all.

Kicking the door open with one foot, he quietly stepped into the house, being careful not to wake Hanna in the process. He closed the door behind him with his hip, before silently walking into the kitchen with the intention of getting Hanna a glass of water to take upstairs. Instead, he was greeted by Ashley, who was sitting at the kitchen island with a worried look on her face.

"Why wasn't she answering her phone?" She questioned immediately, before Caleb even had the chance to speak.

"We uh, we were talking," He answered honestly, being sure to keep his voice to a minimum so as not to wake Hanna, "I'm sorry Miss Marin, I told her to call you back but-"

"Save it," Ashley interrupted him, "I'm just glad you brought her home. I thought I was going to have to come over and pry her from you whilst you were… in the middle of something."

Caleb felt a furious blush creep onto his cheeks – he couldn't believe that he'd just heard those words coming from Ashley's mouth. "I didn't, we didn't, uh, do anything," He mumbled, avoiding eye contact with her at all costs, "We talked about our relationship, and we decided that it would be best if we were just friends."

"Well it certainly looks like you did _something_ ," Ashley retorted, nodding at her daughter, who was still fast asleep in Caleb's arms, "Hanna doesn't normally fall asleep and have to be carried home, or smell like a brewery."

Caleb sighed, "Yeah, we may have had a couple of drinks."

"A couple?" Ashley raised an eyebrow.

"A few more than a couple, but she's fine, I swear," Caleb assured her, readjusting his grip on the girl in his arms, "Can I go upstairs and put her into bed?"

Ashley thought for a moment before nodding, "She can sleep in the clothes she's in, just lay her down and then come straight back."

"Ok," Caleb nodded back, giving Ashley a small smile before he made his way over to the staircase.

"Caleb?"

He turned back, halfway up the stairs, at the sound of Ashley's voice.

"I'm glad you two are okay again," She smiled, genuinely.

"Me too," Caleb agreed. He returned her smile before continuing up the stairs, and walking straight into Hanna's bedroom. Soon realising that the room was dark, he flicked the light on and put her bag and shoes on the floor, before pulling the covers back and laying Hanna down on her bed. "Goodnight Han," He whispered as he pulled the comforter back over her, Hanna stirring a little due to his movements.

Stepping back, he sighed, and studied the girl in front of him. She looked so angelic, laying there, completely unaware of the effect that she was having on him. He guessed that she'd _never_ be aware of it, now. The thought hurt him more than he'd care to admit.

Not wanting to leave her alone quite yet, he perched on the end of the bed, and stroked a stray strand of hair away from her face. As if it was a reflex, he bent down and pressed a soft kiss to her forehead, his lips lingering there for a little longer than usual as he came to the realisation that he shouldn't, wouldn't, be doing that anymore.

He pulled back and stood up from the bed, letting out a deep sigh as he made his way back towards the door. "See you tomorrow," He whispered, before flicking the light off, leaving Hanna alone to sleep.

His walk home was far more unpleasant that he'd anticipated, his mind full of 'what if's and self-doubt.

But he'd have to get used to it, because this was the way that things were now.

They were just friends.

* * *

 **I was gonna end this chapter on a really-low low, but then decided to give you a teeny-tiny something at the end there. I'm planning on there being another six chapters of this story, and then an epilogue, so there's still plenty of time for things to change! Thank you to my Rachy for constantly supplying me with motivational pics of Tyler whilst I was trying to write this. Reviews are appreciated as always x**


	14. Chapter Fourteen

**I know most of you hate me because of the current state of Hanna and Caleb's 'relationship' in this fic but… just hold on. Things might get better soon. Or maybe they'll get worse before they get better. Who knows?**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter Fourteen

* * *

"Five more questions, then we can do something else."

Hanna let out a long groan at Caleb's request. _She_ was the one who'd asked him to come over to help her study, so why was _he_ dictating what they did? "We've been doing this for half an hour!" She whined, "That's longer than it takes me to do my hair." She punctuated her complaint with a twist of her finger around a lock of her long blonde hair, hoping that it would convince him to change his mind.

Caleb raised an eyebrow, "If you don't think that you should be spending longer studying for a test than you do on your hair, then I think you need to reassess your priorities," He laughed as she pouted at him, "You're the one who asked me over in the first place, anyway."

"Not to study for the _whole_ time," She rolled her eyes, dropping the lock of hair from her finger so that it fell back around her face. The truth was, she'd missed him. Since they'd made their agreement to be friends and nothing more the previous evening, they'd barely had any physical contact, and it was killing her. Before, he would steal kisses in the hallway at school, or hold her hand and stroke his thumb across her palm at lunch, or wrap his arm around her shoulders as they walked home together. But now, it was almost as if he was afraid to do so, afraid that he'd be breaking some sort of 'rule' if he did.

Hanna would be lying if she said that she didn't feel the same way.

And so, she'd invited him over, with the hopes of studying, sure, but with the hopes of something else happening too. She wasn't quite sure what – she was determined not to break their agreement; they had only made it the night before, after all. But she couldn't stand feeling so distant from him. She figured that maybe, if they were in a more comfortable environment, he would behave more like he used to around her; more tactile, more like the best friend that she had always known and loved.

So far, it wasn't working out too well for her. He'd taken her offer of studying – which she hadn't _really_ intended to be studying at all – a little too seriously. She was pretty sure she knew how to fix that.

Pressing her lips together, Hanna stood up from the table that they were sitting at, and made her way over to the fridge. Caleb simply scribbled something down on the piece of paper in front of him, not even looking up to acknowledge the loss of Hanna's presence. After retrieving exactly what she wanted, she closed the fridge and strolled back over to him, before placing the cold bottle of lager down on the table in front of Caleb. At the sound of the glass meeting the wood, Caleb turned his head to look at Hanna, who simply smiled at him in response.

"What's this?" He asked, though he clearly already knew what it was, and perhaps why Hanna was giving it to him.

"Beer," She shrugged, as she sat back down next to him, "Or lager, what ever it is."

He let out a short laugh before picking the bottle up in his hand. "You sure your mom won't be mad if she comes home to find me drinking this?"

"No," Hanna shook her head, "She isn't here. She's out on a date, so she won't be back until like, midnight."

Caleb jutted his bottom lip out, and raised his eyebrows, "A date, huh?" He chuckled, before looking back down at the bottle he was holding, "Why do you even have this, anyway? Since when does your mom drink lager?"

"She doesn't, I got it for you," Hanna murmured, looking down at the table, "When you used to be round here all the time, before… you know." She swallowed loudly, suddenly unable to meet his gaze.

Caleb took in a deep breath in, before standing up from his chair and reaching out for her hand. "Come on," He offered, desperately trying to change the subject, "Let's go do something else. We've been studying for long enough."

Hanna gratefully accepted his hand – the one in which he wasn't carrying the bottle of lager – and followed him over to the couch in the living room. He sat down on one side, and she instinctively sat next to him, before resting her head comfortably on his shoulder.

 _Wait. She wasn't supposed to be doing that anymore._

At the realisation, she immediately brought her head back up, and a furious blush crept upon her cheeks. She sucked her bottom lip into her mouth as she started at Caleb, who was looking at her with a small smirk, his face showing no signs of annoyance.

"It's ok," He nodded at her, "I don't mind." Hanna swallowed loudly, before shooting him a quick smile. She leaned to the side a little, and her head naturally found it's place back on his shoulder. "The deal was that we're just friends, not that we can't touch each other at all," He murmured close to her ear, earning an eye roll from Hanna.

"Shut up," She laughed, her hand gently slapping his chest before she picked up the TV remote, "What are we watching?"

Caleb quickly removed the cap from his lager with his teeth before taking a swig, and then looking down at Hanna. "Don't mind," He shrugged, "As long as it isn't anything to do with the Kardashians."

"Got it," Hanna chuckled, as she began to flick through the channels, "No Kardashians."

Eventually settling on some sort of movie about a war, which Caleb had seemed so excited about that she couldn't say no, Hanna readjusted her position on the couch so that she was settled more firmly against Caleb, who wrapped his arm around her shoulders as she did so. Hanna inhaled sharply at the contact, and squeezed her eyes shut, willing her heart not to start beating faster.

It didn't listen to her.

Was he doing this on purpose? Did he _know_ what he was doing to her? It was going to be much harder than she'd ever imagined to be 'just friends' when this was how 'just friends' acted. Especially when his hand started playing with strands of her hair, and his thumb traced the shell of her ear over and over again. Hanna found herself almost falling asleep due to the soothing motions, but stopped herself as her head fell forward and she jolted awake.

"You ok?" Caleb asked, alarmed by her sudden movement.

Hanna cleared her throat, "Yeah," She nodded, "Just gonna, uh, get myself some water. You want another be- lager… thing?"

Caleb chuckled, before looking quickly at the empty bottle on the table next to him. "Yeah, another one would be great," He smiled up at her, "Or maybe two, thanks."

Hanna returned after a minute or so with a glass of water, and the rest of the six pack of lager that Caleb had started on. "Thought I may as well bring over the rest," She announced as she placed the remaining five bottles down on the table, "My mom and I won't drink them so… lager away."

"Thanks," Caleb raised his eyebrows, "You trying to get me drunk?"

"Nooooo," Hanna rolled her eyes as she stretched the word out, "Just trying to get your mind off of studying."

"Well, you don't have to worry about that," He chuckled as she sat back down next to him, "My mind definitely isn't on studying anymore."

"Then was _is_ it on?" She questioned as she leaned back into his side, and looked up at him, biting her lip. As soon as she saw the way that he was looking back at her, and registered the now palpable tension in the air, she instantly regretted what she'd said.

 _What was she doing?_

Caleb cleared his throat and let out a shaky breath, his eyes moving down to her lips and then back up to meet her gaze. He rubbed his lips together as he continued to study her features, and Hanna could feel his heart rate increasing against her hand, which was resting against his sturdy chest.

Then, Caleb squeezed his eyes shut, and sighed. "You _know_ what it's on," He murmured, before turning to face the TV and picking up another bottle of lager.

Hanna gulped, loudly. She should have seen that coming. Her hand slowly slid down Caleb's chest until it fell back into her lap, and she turned her head to the side, desperately willing herself not to cry. She was sure that Caleb was aware of her upset, because his hand, which was still resting on her shoulder, gave her a gentle squeeze.

The rest of the movie seemed to pass by in a blur for Hanna; she'd never really been watching in the first place, because war movies weren't really her forte, but now she was well and truly distracted.

She and Caleb had been through so many different phases; best friends, a fake relationship, friends with benefits, and now, 'just friends'. Of all of them, she definitely liked this one the least. Things had been so natural when they were best friends, so easy. Their fake relationship was exciting, the beginning of something new, a means of discovery for the both of them. And the friends with benefits situation, well, that had been the reason for which Hanna had chosen to lose her virginity, to give Caleb a part of herself that she'd never given to anybody else. It was almost exactly what she wanted, it had almost been enough for her. But not quite.

They'd never quite gotten to the status that she'd pined for, the one that, not so long ago, she'd been sure that he was pining for too.

But she guessed there was no going back there, now. Because they were in the 'just friends' phase, one that seemed to act as a barrier to becoming anything more. And Hanna hated it.

Neither of them spoke until the credits started to roll – Hanna had been occupied by her own thoughts, and Caleb had been occupied by the other four bottles of lager. Maybe their situation _was_ bothering him a little, too.

"You good?" He eventually asked her, breaking their two-hour long silence. Hanna noticed something a little different about his voice, almost as if he was slurring.

"Are you wasted?" She laughed, sitting up straight and facing him, "On lager?"

"Nooooo," He replied, before winking at her.

Hanna immediately burst into a fit of giggles, her hand on his shoulder as she mocked him with her laughter. "You are _so_ drunk," She retorted, "Never in your life have you winked at me."

"Shhhh," He whispered leaning in towards her, "You're being loud. Come back here, it's cold without you." Before she had a chance to respond, he had pulled her into him, and her head was back in its place on his shoulder. "Better," He announced, wrapping both of his arms around her, "I missed you."

"You're funny," She murmured under her breath as she felt him start to fiddle with her hair, "You're funny when you're tipsy."

"I'm funny _all_ the time," He shot back, "You just don't appreciate it."

"Oh, I appreciate you," She assured him, patting his chest twice, "You know I love you, Caleb."

She grimaced as soon as the words had left her mouth. She desperately hoped that he was too tipsy to pick up on what she'd just said, or to think anything of it.

Her worries were immediately alleviated as she felt Caleb's arms tighten around her, and his lips as they planted a kiss on the top of her head. "I appreciate you too," He informed her, his voice a little more serious than it had been previously, "I like your hair, and your face…" He trailed off as Hanna began to laugh, "And your laugh, and your ankles…"

"My ankles?" Hanna raised her eyebrows and looked up at him.

But Caleb ignored her questioning stare and continued, "And your smile, and your heart, and your voice, and the way you make me feel, and your dimples," He took a deep breath in, "And all of you."

Hanna was biting her bottom lip to suppress a wide grin – she knew that he was a little tipsy, but the words had to have come from somewhere, and they had an air of truth to them that she simply couldn't ignore. "You're wasted," She repeated, laughing a little, "I'm not believing anything you say right now."

"It's true," He shrugged, before leaning his head on the back of the couch and turning it towards her, "You're my favourite."

There was a moment of silence before a question popped into Hanna's head, and she couldn't quite help herself as she opened her mouth to ask it. "Did you ever… think of me as, you know," She enquired, her voice hushed, "More than a friend? Back before all of this started." She bit her lip nervously as she waited for Caleb's reply, berating herself for bringing the topic up again. But then again, he was a little inebriated; maybe he wouldn't remember. Maybe that's why she'd felt confident enough to ask.

A lazy smile spread across Caleb's face at Hanna's words, and he seemed to mull something over for a moment before he spoke. "Yeah," He nodded, "A while ago. It was that time that my dad tried to get in contact with me, and I cried, and you spent the entire night with me, just holding me."

He sounded a little more sober now, and Hanna gulped, still unsure as to whether bringing this up had been a good idea.

"And then you fell asleep," He continued, "Cuddled up against my chest. I just remember looking down at you, thinking about how I didn't deserve you, how thankful I was for you," He smiled fondly, "And then I couldn't help but stare at your face… your nose, and the lines from your dimples, and your lips, and I saw you in a completely different light. But I knew you didn't see me in the same way, so I swore that I'd never do anything about it," He finished, his expression laden with an odd mix of nerves and sheer admiration as he dared to meet Hanna's gaze.

Hanna felt a flood of warmth rush through her body at the depth of his stare, and the proximity of his face to hers. There was a short silence in the room as she listened to him take several shallow breaths in and out, before his head inched forward towards hers. Their lips were only centimetres apart when she realised what was happening, and pulled away, looking down as she did so.

"Caleb,' She murmured, biting her bottom lip, "We can't. We only jus-"

"Yeah," He interrupted her, his voice cracking a little, "I know, I'm sorry." He stood up, scratching the back of his head, before he seemed to come to some sort of a decision. "I'm gonna go," He announced, sounding decidedly more sober than he had before.

Hanna furrowed her brow, "Caleb, you don't have to go, I get it," She murmured, standing up.

"I need to get back to my place, anyway," Caleb smiled weakly at her, "We have school tomorrow. I'll, uh, I guess I'll just see you then." He walked over to where his jacket was hanging up by the front door, and Hanna followed reluctantly.

"Are you sure?" She asked him, a worried look on her face, "Are you upset?"

"No," He shook his head, "I'm just tired. See you tomorrow, Han." He leaned forward to press a single kiss to Hanna's cheek, and then he was gone.

Hanna tentatively reached up to the patch of skin that his lips had just touched, and lightly trailed the tips of her fingers across it.

This was turning out to be a lot harder than she'd imagined.

* * *

School the next day was somewhat… awkward.

Hanna and Caleb had had two classes together, and in both, neither could concentrate properly on their work. They kept stealing glances at one another in an attempt to work out whether they were mad, or upset, or any other negative emotion that they could possibly think of. The tension between them was palpable, and Hanna hated it.

So, at the end of their last class before lunch, she tugged at Caleb's hand as he was about to walk through the door, and pulled him back into the classroom. He gave her a questioning look, and she felt her heart begin to beat uncomfortably fast in her chest.

"Please, can we talk?" She breathed out, "Just for a minute." She looked down at the ground for a moment before speaking again, "I hate doing this."

"Doing what?" He raised his eyebrow at her. He knew exactly what she had been referring to the minute that she sighed, and bit her bottom lip between her teeth. He nodded, allowing her to pull him back into the classroom before he shut the door behind him. "If this is about last night, then everything's okay between us," He started, "I'm not upset."

Hanna shook her head as she perched on the teacher's desk, and Caleb walked over to stand in front of her, folding his arms over his chest. "It's not just that," She exhaled, "It's everything. I feel like things are awkward between us, and I hate it."

Caleb licked his lips before he stepped forward, and looked down at her with a gaze so intense that she couldn't have looked away, even if she'd wanted to. "Hanna, please listen to me. This whole thing, this whole mess that we got ourselves into, it wasn't worth it," He said with complete confidence, "Nothing is worth losing our friendship over."

Hanna nodded, silently agreeing with him.

"I'm fine with us being friends, as long as it means that I don't lose you," He continued, reaching out to take one of her hands in his, "So nothing needs to be awkward from now on, ok? We're just us, and that's that," He finished with a shrug.

"I guess," Hanna half-agreed, rubbing her lips together, "But, I can't help but feel a little guilty, about all of this."

Caleb furrowed his brow, "Why?"

"It's my fault that it all started in the first place," She murmured, "I should never have asked you to pretend to be my boyfriend, I should never have put you in that position. It was stupid of me, and I'm sorry."

The words felt like somewhat of a lie as they slipped from between Hanna's lips. She couldn't say that she regretted what she had done, because she didn't. Maybe asking Caleb to fake-date her had been impulsive, or even a little foolish, but it definitely hadn't felt _wrong_ – at least not to her, anyway. Every moment that they had spent together as something more than friends, had been time that Hanna had cherished, and thoroughly enjoyed. The thought of the two of them never spending time together in that way again made her more upset than she cared to admit to anyone, including herself.

"It wasn't stupid," Caleb shook his head, "You were put in a difficult position. Anybody would have lied if Sean was doing to them what he did to you."

"Yeah but, I didn't have to bring my best friend into it," She laughed, "If anything, I should've said that it was someone I hated… would have been a good form of payback."

Caleb laughed back at her, shaking his head. "Maybe, but they definitely wouldn't have agreed to fake it with you in the first place," He mused, "Unlike someone, who is like putty in your hands and will do absolutely anything that you ask of them."

Hanna rolled her eyes at his description of himself, even though it was partially true. "Hey," She shot back at him, "You make me sound like some kind of master manipulator. Don't pretend that I wouldn't do the same thing for you."

"I'm just kidding," He smiled warmly, rubbing his thumb across the back of her hand, which he was still holding, "I know you would, Han."

Hanna smiled back, before taking a deep breath in and standing up from the desk. She pulled Caleb into a hug, which he immediately reciprocated by wrapping his arms around her, and pressing a kiss to the side of her head. "Stop worrying, everything's fine," He murmured against her hair, "We're good."

She nodded against him, and nuzzled her head into his neck, just allowing him to hold her for a moment. "I really am sorry though," She murmured, breaking their silence, "I didn't mean-"

"I know," He drew a slow circle on her back with the palm of him hand, "I know."

"Anyway," She breathed out, before pulling away from their hug and shooting him a small smile, "Let's go to lunch. I'm starving."

Caleb grinned back at her, before wrapping his arm loosely around her shoulders as they made their way back out of the classroom, and down the hall to the cafeteria. "You still going to Bridget's party on Saturday?" He asked as they entered the hall, and joined the back of the lunch queue.

"I think so," Hanna confirmed, "As long as you are."

"Well, I'm going as long as you are," He smiled back.

Hanna laughed a little, shaking her head in amusement at his response. "Looks like we're going to a party this weekend, then."

* * *

"What were they saying?" Sean interrogated his friend, "I want to know everything, every single detail."

"I only caught half of the conversation," Adam, one of Sean's 'followers', mumbled, "But I think I got the gist of it."

Sean simply raised his eyebrow, signalling for him to continue.

Adam smirked to himself, before opening his mouth to tell Sean everything that he knew. He was very aware that the information that he'd collected was valuable to his friend, _extremely_ valuable. "They're not dating."

"What?" Sean scoffed, leaning his arm against his locker as he crossed one leg over the other, "What do you mean they're not dating."

"Never were," Adam shrugged, "Apparently it was all some sort of ploy."

"So let me get this straight," Sean laughed, menacingly, his eyes flaring with anger, "When Hanna told me that she couldn't be with me because she was dating… whatever his name is, she way lying?"

Adam simply nodded in response, knowing that he'd done a good job; surely, this would get him more credit with Sean.

Sean took a deep breath in, before rubbing the bridge of his nose and letting out a short laugh, "Unbelievable," He murmured, before raising his voice, "Unbelievable. She's such a little slut. I bet she was sleeping around with all kinds of guys, just, just pretending to be with that piece of trash to keep me away from her."

"I-" Adam tried to speak, before Sean interrupted him.

"She's gonna get what's coming," He seethed, "They both are. Are they going to that party at Bridget's? Did they mention it?"

"I didn't hear anything," Adam shook his head, "But I'll find out, if you want me to."

"Yeah," Sean sucked in a breath through his teeth, pushing himself away from his locker, "Yeah, I do want you to find out. And if they're not going, I want you to make them go. I need them to be there, so I can show them who's really in control."

* * *

 **Some s**t's about to go down… that's all I'm sayin'. Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter, and as always, reviews are very much appreciated! Ooh, and if you'd like a preview of the next chapter, just let me know in your review x**


	15. Chapter Fifteen

**The exciting stuff is about to start, mahaha. I kinda can't believe that there's only four chapters (and an epilogue) left, after this one.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter Fifteen

* * *

"Where's Lover Boy?"

"Lover who?" Hanna squinted at Alison as she sat down at their lunch table next to Spencer, who was busy typing away on her phone; probably something to do with a debate team meeting, Hanna figured.

"Lover Boy," Emily repeated, smiling, "She's talking about Caleb. Didn't you two just have a class together?"

"Oh, him. Yeah, we did," Hanna shrugged, positioning her bag on the floor next to her feet, before she took a long sip of her water. She placed the bottle back down onto the table next to her slice of pizza, planning her next words in her head as she did so. "He's just coming, I think, I mean I don't know," She rambled, none of what she had intended to say actually coming out of her mouth.

"Han, are you okay?" Spencer raised an eyebrow, finally looking up from her phone.

"Yeah, I'm good," Hanna shook her head at herself, "I don't know why I just got so flustered. He's uh, he's gone to the restroom."

"Is everything alright between you guys?" Alison butted in, her probing gaze securely fixed on Hanna's blushing cheeks. Hanna murmured something incoherent, and so Alison leaned in towards her a little, from the other side of the table. "What was that?"

"I said we decided to call it all off," She sighed, "The friends with… whatever thing we had going on. We've stopped doing it. We're just friends again."

Alison didn't look at all convinced; neither did Spencer, Aria, or Emily, who were all now listening in on their conversation, too. Hanna gulped, and looked between their disbelieving expressions. "It's true, ok? There's nothing more to the story," She added, before taking a bite of her pizza so as to stop her from having to say anything else, at least for a few seconds.

"So what about the party this weekend? You're not going to that together anymore?" Aria asked, sounding more curious, and less accusing than Alison had.

"Yeah, we are," Hanna confirmed as she swallowed her food, "We're just not going _together_ together. If you know what I mean."

"We know what you mean Han, doesn't mean we believe it," Alison rolled her eyes.

"We – are – not – going – as – a – couple," Hanna repeated, pausing between each word so as to emphasise her point, before she held her hands out and angled her head towards Alison slightly, her eyes wide. "Well? Believe me now?"

"No."

"Ali!"

"Ok, if you're not going with Caleb, then I am so going to find you a date," Alison declared, a smirk tugging at the corners of her lips. Usually, whatever she wanted to happen, was going to happen. And she definitely didn't want Hanna moping about this party, whining about Caleb whenever she got the opportunity to do so. That would only serve to ruin her vibe.

"I don't want one," Hanna rolled her eyes, before shoving the crust of her pizza slice into her mouth.

Alison let out a short laugh, "Yes, you do."

"No, I don't," Hanna retorted, mimicking her friend as she chewed the last of her food, "I think I would know if I did."

"Han, you need to get over him," Alison shrugged, pulling her phone out of her bag before she began to scroll through her long list of contacts, searching for one person in particular.

"There's nothing to get over," Hanna mumbled, rolling her eyes once again. Despite the fact that Alison was one of her closest friends, she could drive her crazy with her persistence at times.

"Right," Alison agreed, still concentrating on her phone, "Except for him."

"Will you just leave it?" Hanna spat out, all of a sudden slamming her hand down onto the table, which caused all of her friends to jerk their heads up, "I don't wanna talk about it, or him."

"Ok, we don't have to talk about him," Alison rolled her eyes at her friend's act of defiance, "But can we talk about somebody else?"

"Gladly," Hanna exhaled, running a hand through her hair exasperatedly.

"This," Alison began, turning her phone around so that Hanna could see the screen, "Is Paul."

Hanna furrowed her brow as the looked at the photo – it was of a very chiseled looking boy, _man_ , who just so happened to be shirtless, smiling brightly next to two girls, who looked tiny in comparison to him. Hanna jutted out her bottom lip and nodded in approval, "Nice, who is he?"

"He's your date for the party," Alison rolled her eyes, "Obviously."

"Yeah, I don't think so," Hanna shook her head as she laughed nervously, before taking a sip of her drink.

"Why not?" Aria piped in, having looked at the photo too, "He's really cute."

"Blonde and preppy isn't really my type, I guess," Hanna shrugged nonchalantly.

"Sean wasn't blonde and preppy?" Alison replied sarcastically, "Wow, I really need to get my eyes tested."

"Sean was a mistake; I think we all know that. He was never my type, he was just… there, and I was desperate. I don't feel the need to date someone just for the reputation, now. I'll date someone if I actually like them, every part of them, not just their looks," Hanna spoke honestly, watching as all of her friends, aside from Alison, gave her understanding smiles and nods.

"What you really mean, is that you don't like blonde and preppy anymore, because that's not Caleb," Alison raised her eyebrows, "I'm right, aren't I?"

"No," Hanna retorted.

"But I am."

"No!"

"Han, at least give him a chance," Alison sighed, still trying to win over her friend despite her obvious irritation, "He's actually a really nice guy."

"If I say yes, will you stop being so annoying about this?" Hanna huffed, wanting more than anything for the conversation to end.

"Totally," Alison held her hands up, "You won't hear another word from me."

"I doubt that," Hanna rolled her eyes, "But fine, whatever. I'll go with Pablo, or whatever his name is."

"It's Paul, Han," Spencer laughed, speaking up for the first time in a while, "And Ali's right, he actually is a nice guy. He's friends with Toby."

Hanna nodded her head back at her friend, forcing a smile. Inside, she was feeling inexplicably guilty, like she was betraying Caleb somehow. They weren't together, they never _really_ had been together, so why did she feel like she was cheating on him, doing something that she shouldn't be by agreeing to go on a date with somebody else? Deep, down, she knew why. She knew that it would upset Caleb, that no matter whether he wanted them to be a couple or not, they had a special bond, _something_ , that crossed the boundary between a normal friendship and something more. She didn't want to hurt him, or make him feel like he wasn't special to her, but at the same time, she couldn't put her life on hold when she was getting nothing in return. Life just didn't work like that.

"Oh come on Han, you look like you've just been slapped," Alison interrupted Hanna's reverie with a chuckle, "I'm giving you an amazing opportunity, you should be excited about it."

"You're not _giving_ me anything," Hanna retorted bitterly, "You're forcing me to do something that I don't really want to do."

"Jeez, what are you guys getting all catty about?" Caleb's voice interrupted their spat as he took his place at the table, next to Hanna, "Someone get the last slice of pizza before the other one could get to the cafeteria?"

"No," Alison laughed, reaching out to pat Hanna on the shoulder, "Hanna was just having some boy troubles, and I was helping her."

"Ali!" She seethed, shooting her a death stare. She turned to her side, only to see Caleb raising his eyebrow at her, clearly aware of the fact that he had been their previous topic of conversation.

"Care to fill me in?" He probed – by the stern look on his face, Hanna could tell that he obviously wasn't going to take no for an answer.

Hanna looked up to the ceiling, searching for some kind of guidance, someone to tell her what to do. Realising that nobody was going to clue her in as to what she should say, she looked straight back at Caleb, and offered him the truth. "I was just telling the others about how we decided to end things, that we're just friends," She swallowed, nervous as to what his reaction would be.

To her surprise, he simply nodded, and turned back towards his lunch, before picking up his burrito and taking a bite.

"You're not mad?" She questioned, leaning forward so that she was a little closer to him.

"Why would I be mad?" He shot back, his mouth still half-full, "It's the truth, they were going to find out anyway."

"Right," Hanna nodded, a little put-off by his unaffected attitude.

And then they were silent; they seemingly had nothing more to discuss. If it had been a week ago, Caleb would have taken the opportunity to turn to his side and, despite the fact that all of their friends were watching, plant a short kiss on Hanna's mouth to fill the silence, and Hanna would have blushed and giggled like a giddy child and looked up at him, shaking her head as she thought about how wonderful his eyes were when they sparkled like that.

But now, that just wasn't an option.

She needed to do something in order to stop herself from thinking like that, from feeling that way. And she knew exactly what that something was. She needed to tell him about the other half of her conversation with Alison, the half that meant that she was now going to the party with somebody other than him. "You still going to the party this weekend?" She breathed out, taking as little time as possible to ask the question. Once the can of worms had been opened, there was no going back.

Caleb furrowed his brow; was she testing him? The last time that they'd talked about going to the party, they'd agreed to go together, and now she was acting very strangely around him. Did she not want to go with him anymore, even as friends? "Uh, I'm not sure," He erred on the side of caution, hoping to work out her motivation behind asking the question, "Are you?"

"Yeah, I'm going," Hanna nodded, her heart beginning to beat a little faster; she was fully aware of where the conversation was heading, and of what she was going to have to tell him. She shot her friends a look, as if to encourage them to carry on with their own conversations, so that she and Caleb could have a little privacy.

"Then I'm going too," He shrugged with a short smile, feeling a small amount of relief at the fact that she was still going, that she wasn't standing him up, per se.

"About that," Hanna started as she turned her body so that she was facing him fully, rubbing her hands with her eyes – carefully, so as not to smudge her precisely applied eyeliner – before she looked up at him, "I don't know if we can still go together."

Caleb's heart flipped in his chest. The very words that he had so desperately hoped he would not hear, had just come from Hanna's mouth so matter-of-factly and fluidly that she had to have been planning on saying them for a while. "Why not?" He swallowed, trying to maintain his composure despite the distinct heaviness that was overcoming his body.

"After I told the others about… you know," She fumbled in a low voice, trying to find the right words, "How we're not a thing anymore, they set me up with someone. I didn't want them to, but-"

"Wait, you have a date?" He raised his eyebrows, failing to maintain the quietness of their conversation amidst his honest surprise, "Who?"

"Yeah, his name is Paul," She shrugged, nonchalantly, trying all too hard not to make it into a big deal. She could see the hurt in Caleb's eyes as soon as the words had left her mouth, and instantly regretted coming across as if she was completely unaffected by the whole situation.

"Paul?" He questioned, raising his eyebrow, as if distinctly unimpressed, "What kind of a name is Paul?" Suddenly, the heaviness seemed to disappear, and was replaced by a new found anger – whether it was directed at himself, or Hanna, or this new _Paul_ guy, whoever he was, Caleb didn't know.

"A perfectly normal one," Alison sniggered, clearly having listened to their conversation, "I think someone's a little jealous." She took a languid sip of her diet lemonade as she watched the look of mild-disgust on Caleb's face fizzle out into one of embarrassment, and perhaps a tinge of anger.

"Nothing to be jealous about," He murmured, swinging his backpack over his shoulder before he stood up from the table. He glanced at Hanna briefly, _sourly_ , before his mind and his feet led him somewhere, anywhere, far away from her.

* * *

Hanna had been trying to talk to Caleb constantly throughout the rest of the school day – she had even chased after him after he had stormed away from their lunch table. But every time that she had made eye contact with him in class, or approached him in the hallway, he had simply turned his head the other way, not even offering her a small smile. It was breaking her heart, seeing her usually affectionate best friend so uninterested and unaffected by her.

It was the end of the school day by the time that she finally managed to talk to him; she had grabbed his arm as he was walking down the steps outside the front of the school, looking pleadingly into his eyes as he tried to maintain a poker face. Eventually, he had given in, allowing her to lead him to one of the picnic tables on the grass just beyond the bottom of the stairs, where he threw his bag down onto the floor and took a seat next to her. He raised his eyebrows expectantly, waiting for her to speak.

"Caleb, you can't be mad at me."

Well, those weren't the words that he was expecting to hear. "I _can't_ be mad at you?" He repeated, "Why not? You're ditching me for somebody you don't even know," His voice was short and sharp, and Hanna could hear both his hurt and his anger uncomfortably well within it.

"Because I'm not yours," She breathed out, "I don't belong to you. If I can't be with you, then you can't just… you can't just assume that I'll be there for you whenever you want me, or whenever you're ready, or whatever," She was starting to get slightly upset, and tears were welling in her eyes, despite her efforts to keep them at bay, "If you're really my friend then you should want me to be happy."

Caleb closed his eyes for a moment – his brow was furrowed in a way which meant that he was upset, Hanna concluded. She had come to learn what each and every one of his facial expressions meant over the past few weeks, and even though he often tried to hide how he was feeling, she could read him like an open book.

When he eventually spoke, his voice was hoarse, "I know," He agreed, "I know I should, and I do want you to be happy, I swear."

Hanna nodded, encouraging him to go on.

"But is this what you really want?" He asked her, "To date this Paul guy? Have you even met him?"

"I've never met him, no," Hanna shook her head, purposefully avoiding his first question, "But he's supposedly friends with Toby, and apparently he's a nice guy."

"Oh, _that_ Paul?" Caleb raised his eyebrows.

"You know him?" Hanna was surprised – she had never really seen Caleb hanging out with anyone outside of their group before.

Caleb nodded his head, "Yeah, I've met him a few times at Toby's place. He's alright."

"Alright?" Hanna chuckled, "Just alright? Not sure I'm willing to give up my single status just for someone who's 'alright'."

"Nah, he's a nice guy," Caleb shrugged, "But, you know, he's no _Caleb_ ," He finished with a smirk, his eyes shining brightly in Hanna's direction.

Hanna couldn't help but smile back at him as she shook her head – this was the Caleb that she knew, loved, and had missed. The one that would make jokes, and playfully flirt with her as if it was the most natural thing in the world. At least, that's what it felt like to her. "No," She confirmed, "I saw the photo, and he definitely isn't a Caleb. He's more… muscular."

"Hey," Caleb retorted in mock offence, "I'm muscular. Just because I'm not some Hulk look-alike, doesn't mean that-"

"Caleb, I'm kidding," Hanna laughed, putting her hand on his forearm in order to soothe him, "And Hulk? Have you been reading Lucas' comic books or something?" She teased him.

"No, there's movies, too. Never read a comic book in my life, I've been too busy building up my muscles in the gym," He shrugged, trying hard not to smile.

"Oh please, you've never set foot in a gym in your life," Hanna retorted, shaking her head at him.

"You're right," He nodded, "I'm lucky, I'm just built this way naturally."

"Stop it. You have muscles, but you're no Paul, and I wouldn't want you to be," Hanna laughed lightly, "You're perfect just the way you are."

There was an awkward moment of silence during which neither of them knew what to say – Hanna's previous statement had very much alluded to the fact that she was attracted to him, and even though both of them knew in their hearts that that was the case, neither of them knew what to say in response to it.

Caleb eventually broke the almost palpable tension by scratching his head, and letting out a short laugh. "Look Han," He started, taking her hand in his as he made firm eye contact with her, "I'm being serious. I want you to be happy, and if this guy makes you happy, if he even has a _chance_ at making you happy, then I want you to go for it. I want you to be with someone who makes you smile, and laugh. I don't want to hold you back from happiness."

Hanna swallowed, letting his words sink in. "You made me happy," She blurted out, without thinking, "You still do… make me happy," She trailed off, her voice weak.

Caleb exhaled a deep breath, and swiped his thumb over the back of her now trembling hand. She looked a little scared, as if she was aware that she had just said something that she shouldn't, reopened a door that she had never intended to, one that she had tried so hard to close.

"You know you make me happy too, Han," He replied, honestly. In his periphery, he could see that the school grounds had now cleared, and that they were sitting alone, outside the building, after obviously having talked for a little while longer than they had intended to. "But," He tried to continue, before seeing Hanna's hopeful expression drop at the sound of the word that he had just uttered. He sighed, before tugging on her arm and encouraging her towards him. She looked confused for a moment before she caught on, and sat down on his knee, allowing him to wrap his arms around her as she snuggled into the side of his body.

She allowed herself to bury her face into his neck, preparing herself for what she knew was coming next.

"You make me so happy," He murmured, his voice barely a whisper against her hair, "So, so happy. You know that. But we didn't make each other happy when we were arguing, when we couldn't decide what we were, what we weren't, where we stood. I want to go back to being happy as friends, being happy all of the time. Being friends with benefits didn't make us happy, Han. It almost ruined us," He swallowed, tearing up a little, "I can't stand the thought of that happening, I can't stand the thought of losing you."

Hanna choked out a sob against him as her hot tears rolled down onto his skin, his words hitting her like nothing else ever had. She knew that he was right, that they'd never even argued before all of the kissing and dating and sex had started, that their relationship had been so much simpler back then. She wanted him, and she had an inkling that he wanted her, too, but that just wasn't the place that they were right now.

She was just going to have to accept the fact that she wasn't going to get what she wanted.

Because maybe, getting what she wanted wasn't going to make her happy. Or at least, that's what she was telling herself.

"I know," She whimpered into his neck, trying to control her breathing as she felt his warm hand rub up and down her back, and the tip of his nose run through her hair as he tried desperately not to plant a kiss on the top of her head. "But it's so hard."

"I want to be here for you, always, Han," He swallowed, his hands coming to rest on her waist, "I want to be in your life for as long as I'm alive. I don't even want to risk losing you. So if being your friend makes the chance of losing you lower, if being your friend means that we don't argue, or have any difference of opinion, then that's what I'll do. I love being your friend. I love being there for you when you have problems, and helping you with homework, and watching movies with you, and hell, I even loved playing your fake boyfriend," He joked, earning a small laugh from Hanna, "I'm more than happy to go back to exactly that. I just want to be around you. Because you make me happy, no matter what our 'status' is."

Hanna finally built up the courage to look up at Caleb, and into his eyes. She nodded, once, twice, and then hooked her arms around his neck, before taking a shaky breath in as she snivelled, trying to control her emotions. Caleb reached out to swipe her tears away with his thumb, and Hanna smiled, unable to hold back further tears as his simple, sweet gesture turned her into a pile of mush.

"I'm sorry," She laughed, using the bottom of her sleeve to wipe at her cheek, "I don't know why I'm such a mess. God, I must have mascara all down my face."

Caleb chuckled, and brought his hand back up to her face, tracing each of the watery black lines that ran from her eyes to her chin with his thumb. "Yeah, you do," He nodded, his lips pressed into a tight smile, "You're still kinda managing to look insanely beautiful, though. I really hate you for that," He whispered, his eyes connecting with hers as his thumb rubbed off the last of her stray mascara.

Hanna closed her eyes, allowing herself to indulge in the cathartic feeling of this thumb, and then his lips, at the corner of her mouth, as he leaned forward to press a kiss against the soft skin there. She couldn't tell whether it had been intended for her lips, or for her cheek, but either way, it had landed somewhere in between.

When she opened her eyes again, he was standing up, still holding her against him, before he gently lowered her down to the ground, and offered her his hand.

* * *

 **Oops. Don't hate me. Reviews are always appreciated, even if you do! And you're always welcome to ask for a preview in your review, if you want one x**


	16. Chapter Sixteen

**Life has been busy, updates have been slow, bla bla bla… you know the story by now. I hope this update makes up for it a little (or come to think of it, maybe it won't, oops). Only a couple of chapters left now.**

 **Thank you for all of your sweet reviews on this fic, it always makes me happy to see that some people still read and appreciate what I write.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter Sixteen

* * *

Hanna's hands trembled ever so slightly as she applied a final swipe of soft pink lipstick to her perfectly shaped lips. She had been staring at them for so long in the mirror, her mind getting lost between applications of the subtly coloured makeup, that they had started to look a little strange to her. It was like when you repeated a word over and over in your head, she thought, and it started not to make sense anymore. It worked with situations, too; the more that she replayed the past few weeks that she had spent with Caleb in her mind, the more she started to think that they'd both lost all perception of what was good, what was real.

Shaking her head and letting out a deep sigh of resignation as she finally pulled herself away from her dressing table – she wasn't going to be able to concentrate on her makeup anymore no matter how hard she tried – Hanna attempted to focus her attention on the night ahead. She was going to a party, with a date, a date that was someone other than Caleb… or Sean. And yet, she wasn't nervous about her date's reaction to how she looked, or how they interacted with one another – she couldn't really have cared less what Paul thought about her. She was nervous about _Caleb's_ reaction.

His reaction to how she looked, his reaction to her date, his reaction to her being with somebody that wasn't him. She hadn't admitted it to herself yet, but she wanted him to be jealous, even if it was going to make things harder for them both.

The easy thing would to be to move on – as far as she knew, Paul was a nice enough guy, so why couldn't she give him a chance?

The doorbell rang before Hanna had even picked out a matching bag for her black, backless dress. It was short, shorter than she'd usually go for, and the plunging neckline showed just enough, without it being too much. She just hoped that Paul would know, instinctively, that the dress wasn't for him. Her black clutch would have to do, because she could already hear her mom opening the door to her date, and greeting him with a friendly introduction.

Time to see if this guy was really all that Alison had made him out to be.

She spotted him from the top of the stairs; tall, tanned, blond, and even more muscular than he'd appeared in the photos that she'd seen of him. He was impressive by anybody's standards, and yet somehow, Hanna was left utterly unimpressed. Where was Caleb's ruffled dark hair, and his slightly untamed stubble, or the soft smile that appeared on his face whenever she came into his line of sight? Paul's wide grin felt a little false in comparison.

"Hi," He greeted her brightly, his eyes flicking up and down her body quickly as she ambled down the last few stairs, "You must be Hanna."

Hanna nodded, "Yeah, hi," She smiled awkwardly, accepting his outstretched hand.

"You look beautiful," He added, somewhat nervously, "I hope you don't mind me coming to pick you up, I just thought it would be nice if we went along together."

"No, that's fine," Hanna reassured him, "And thanks… for the compliment."

There was a moment of silence before Ashley cleared her throat, prompting both Hanna and Paul to look over at her. "I'm heading out for the night," She announced, "You two have a nice time, and be back by midnight, Hanna."

Hanna nodded back at her mom, shooting her a tight smile, "See you later." As her mom left the house and her gaze turned back to Paul, she noticed his eyes lingering on the upper portion of her dress. _Wonderful. Exactly what she wanted - another guy staring at her boobs._ "Should we uh, go?" She piped up, immediately bringing his attention back to her face.

"Yeah, sorry," Paul shook his head, laughing a little, "Spaced out there. You wanna walk to Bridget's, or take my car?"

"Let's take the car, it's cold," Hanna suggested immediately; the sooner they got to the party, the sooner she could see her friends, and the less awkward alone time she would have to spend with Paul.

The car ride was only five minutes – it was pleasant enough, and mostly consisted of pointless small talk. As it turned out, Paul was an okay guy to talk to, once he'd gotten over his initial nerves; Hanna was starting to see more of the confident jock type that she'd assumed he would be after first noting his striking muscle mass. Not that she made solid assumptions based on appearance anymore, she'd learned not to do that after becoming friends with Caleb, way back when.

 _Dammit. She was thinking about Caleb again._

And as much as she tried, she couldn't stop thinking about him as she walked into the party, her eyes darting around the room, searching for him instinctively. Every boy with dark hair looked like him to her, until she squinted her eyes, and noticed that they didn't have the same impish smile as him. As Paul placed his hand on her lower back and ushered her further into the party, she realised how desperately she missed Caleb doing the same thing.

She hated how much she thought about him. She hoped he thought about her that much, too.

Before she had the chance to pine for any longer, a hand was tugging at her shoulder, and a familiar voice was shouting her name right up against her ear. She turned around to find a tipsy-looking Aria beaming behind her, Spencer and Toby hot on her heels. "Hey," She smiled to her friends, raising her voice a little so that she could be heard over the music, "I was looking for you guys." _Aria and Spencer, Caleb, same thing._

"Toby," Interrupted Paul, reaching his arm out in front of Hanna in order to shake Toby's hand, "Good to see you man."

"Good to see you too," Toby nodded back, "How's it going?"

"Great," Paul nodded, smiling down at Hanna, "I'm having a good time."

Hanna cleared her throat. "Yeah, me too," She confirmed, before turning her attention to Toby, "Have you seen Caleb?" _Dammit. She wasn't supposed to ask about Caleb_. She didn't miss the knowing smirk that appeared on Spencer's face at her words.

"Caleb's here?" Paul piped up, completely missing the hidden meaning behind Hanna's words, "Awesome, I haven't seen him in forever. He's a great guy, you two know each other well?" He asked Hanna.

"Uh, yeah," She gulped, "We've been friends for a few years." _Friends. Hah._

"They know each other well alri-" Aria started before Spencer tugged on her arm, and her last word turned into a mess of giggles. She bit her lip, aware that she'd crossed an unspoken line, even in her drunken state.

"Yeah, I saw him a few minutes ago. He was over in the karaoke room that Bridget set up," Toby informed Hanna, aiding his girlfriend in her quest to keep Aria quiet, "I'm pretty sure he said that he was gonna get a drink, though."

"Oh, cool," Hanna pretended to brush the information off, "I just need to ask him about a project we're doing for school."

Spencer rolled her eyes, clearly unimpressed by Hanna's attempt to hide her feelings; she wondered if Paul was catching on.

"You're asking him about a project at a party? Come on Hanna, loosen up a little," Paul laughed, swinging his arm around her shoulder. "You want a drink?"

"Uh, yeah, I'll have a vodka soda," Hanna nodded, smiling weakly at him.

"I came prepared."

Hanna furrowed her brow as the deep voice came from behind her, and a tanned arm reached over her shoulder, offering exactly what she had just asked for – a vodka soda. She took the red cup in her hand before turning around; she was immediately greeted by Caleb's distinctive features, which softened infinitely as her gaze met his.

"Thanks," She breathed out, swallowing down her nerves, "Were you listening to that entire conversation?"

"No," He rolled his eyes, "I saw you come in, and know you well enough to know that you'd be drinking one of those," He shrugged, nodding down to the drink in her hands.

"Thanks man, saved me an extra minute at the drinks table," Paul joked, greeting Caleb with a brief hug. "I'll leave you guys alone to talk about your project while I go get a drink. Seems like the kinda thing that I'm not gonna be interested in."

Hanna shot him a short nod and a smile as he walked off; he stopped to say 'hi' to at least four people before he finally made it to the drinks table.

"Project, what project?" Caleb muttered to Hanna, furrowing his brow as he too watched Paul walk away.

Hanna felt her heart begin to beat a little faster, and her face flush red in embarrassment as she turned to face Caleb once more. "Nothing," She shot back, "Doesn't matter." She took a long sip of her drink, hoping that the pause in the conversation would be enough for Caleb to take it in another direction.

Despite her wishes, Caleb immediately recognised the nervous look on her face, and suddenly everything clicked into place. "Were you making up excuses to talk to me?" He smirked, knowing full well that he was right, but wanting Hanna to admit it herself.

"No," She rolled her eyes, looking down at the ground.

Caleb let out a short laugh, "Yes, you were," He insisted.

Hanna exhaled deeply, clearly not willing to play Caleb's game. "Anyway, who is that?" She narrowed her eyes, looking over at the tall, blonde girl on the other side of the room, who had been staring at Caleb throughout their entire conversation. She figured that she must've had some reason to be lusting after him like that.

"That's Bri," Caleb shrugged, watching Hanna's face carefully as her expression turned from one of annoyance to one of… upset?

"Bri?" She raised her eyebrows, "What kind of a name is Bri? Isn't that a cheese?"

"It's short for Brianna," He laughed, "I thought I'd ask her if she wanted to come here with me seeing as everyone else had a date."

Hanna rolled her eyes, "Well why do you need a date?" She asked, putting more than a subtle amount of emphasis on the word 'need'.

"I could ask you the same question," Caleb shot back with a smirk, earning a false smile from Hanna as she pretended to be amused, before her expression all of a sudden became decidedly serious.

"I don't _need_ a date," She retorted, folding her arms across her chest. _This was going to sting_. "I want a date. Well, I _wanted_ one. Now I have one."

"You want a date?" He raised his eyebrows disbelievingly, "Really?"

"Yes," She replied shortly, not entirely convinced by her own words. Not convinced at all, actually.

Caleb laughed gently, looking to the side as he inhaled deeply. "Good," He nodded, "Then I'm glad you have one. Have a nice night with Paul."

"Caleb stop," She rolled her eyes at his obvious sarcasm, reaching out to grab his arm as he turned to leave, "I'm sorry, I don't want to argue with you."

"Neither do I," He shrugged in reply, "I wasn't arguing. I just said that I hope you have a nice night," He finished, before turning to walk away again, and this time doing just that.

Hanna huffed, looking up at the ceiling as her eyes welled with tears. _So he was in one of those moods_. She couldn't really blame him, she'd known that her words would put him in one.

She was determined not to let him get to her.

She was determined not to get upset.

She was determined to have a good night.

Or maybe, she was just determined to make him jealous.

She didn't know what the truth was as she stormed back over to Paul, who was still at the drinks table, and slipped one arm around his waist, the other bringing the red cup in her hand up to her lips so that she could take a languid sip of her drink.

He startled a little at the unexpected contact, before smiling as he realised that it was Hanna. "Hey," He greeted, looking down at her, "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," She assured him, almost batting her eyelids as she felt his warm hand slide a little lower on her back, before it came to rest just above her ass. She silently wished that it would move a little lower, but only if Caleb was watching.

Which she knew that he was, without even looking.

She wondered if he was playing the same game with her, flirting with Bri, or whatever her name was, to try and make Hanna jealous. She was torn between looking and not, wanting to know what he was doing and wanting to stay in control of the situation. She eventually decided on the latter, placing her now empty cup down on the table in front of her before she reached up to run her hand through Paul's hair. "You have good hair," She mused, jutting her bottom lip out, "Do you use conditioner?"

Paul furrowed his brow. "Are you drunk?" He chuckled down at her, "After one drink?"

"Noooooo," Hanna giggled, putting on the 'girly' act that she knew would result in him becoming putty in her hands, "I just like your hair."

"Ok then, thanks I guess," Paul shrugged, all of a sudden looking a little smug as he led Hanna away from the table, and found a spare place for them to sit on one of the plush couches in the living room. He took the seat himself, before pulling Hanna down onto his lap, and wrapping his arm around her waist. He offered her the drink in his hand, which Hanna gratefully accepted, despite the high alcohol to soda ratio in the cup.

All of a sudden, she was filled with an overwhelmingly uncomfortable sense of déjà vu; the only difference being the man whose chest was pressed up against her back. She didn't even have to ask herself which one she had preferred being so close to – Paul didn't even come close to making her feel the same things as Caleb had on that night, and she doubted whether anybody else ever would.

And so she did the first thing that she could think of in order to clear the memory of sitting on Caleb's lap from her mind.

She kissed him. She kissed Paul.

There was enough alcohol in her system for her not to care when he didn't respond right away, and enough for her to continue the kiss when he eventually did.

It wasn't a bad kiss – a little messy, and maybe a little half-hearted, but it would do. It was enough to take her mind off of Caleb for just a second, enough to make his heart break a little as he looked over and saw what Hanna and Paul were doing.

Caleb was glad that Hanna couldn't see him as his eyes welled with tears, and he swallowed down the growing lump in his throat. He knew why she was doing it; she was tipsy, and she was jealous, and she missed him. He knew, because he felt exactly the same way. But that didn't stop him from wanting to run out of the party, and away from the situation, as he watched their mouths moving against one another's.

He cleared his throat as he felt Bri shift by his side, before her hand came to rest on his lower arm. "Are you okay?" She asked, peering up at his slightly despondent looking face.

"Yeah, I will be," He nodded, smiling down at her. She was a genuinely nice girl, one that he'd had mutual friends with for a while, and only vaguely known up until that night. Had his mind not been preoccupied by Hanna, he might have enjoyed being at the party with her.

But right now, he couldn't tear his eyes away from the bright eyed, blonde girl, sitting on somebody else's lap, kissing somebody else's lips.

He could play her game, he could lean down and kiss Bri right that second, but he doubted whether she would even notice. She looked like she was enjoying the kiss, looked like he was the last thing on her mind in that moment. He began to doubt whether she was even doing it to make him jealous; had she actually wanted to kiss Paul? He was more her _type_ after all, he was more _Sean_ than Caleb could ever be.

And then, suddenly, he didn't care whether she was looking or not. He needed to stop torturing himself, needed to get Hanna off of his mind. Apparently, kissing Bri was the way to do that. He felt guilty the instant that his mouth met hers; he was using her, and she had no idea. This wasn't him, he didn't use girls. This was what Hanna did to him; she drove him crazy in the worst way, and the best way, possible.

He pulled away after about five seconds, with the intention of telling Bri that he was sorry, that he couldn't do this to her. But instead, he immediately caught sight of Hanna, staring straight at him from across the room. She was still situated on Paul's lap, but her lips were no longer attached to his. Her face was somber, her eyes boring into his as her shoulders began to move up and down with increasing speed.

She was trying not to cry.

 _Shit. He'd never meant to make her cry._

But she had done it too, she'd kissed someone else first. He had no reason to feel guilty, right? Except, he did feel guilty – his whole being was overcome with guilt, and regret. He wanted her to know that he didn't want to kiss Bri, he didn't want to kiss anybody else but her. He wanted to wrap her up in his arms and tell her that he was sorry, and that everything would be okay, and that they could work things out between them. He wanted to erase the entire night from his memory.

He could have sworn that his vision narrowed in on Hanna as a single tear slipped down her cheek. He had never seen such coldness in her eyes as she swallowed a lump in her throat, and turned back to face Paul.

Caleb knew what was coming next, but it still hurt when she planted her lips back on the blond boy's mouth.

Everything was so clear to him now. Now, he knew that she wanted to be kissing him, as much as he wanted to be kissing her. He knew that she was hurting as much as he was. He knew exactly what he had to do the next day, when they'd both had some time to calm down, and some time for the alcohol in their systems to wear off.

He needed to tell Hanna Marin that he was in love with her.

It felt strange to admit it to himself, but he'd known for a while now that that was what he was feeling. He'd never been in love before, he'd never really _felt_ loved, before Hanna had come into his life. But now, he knew what it was to be loved, and to feel it in return.

He also knew how it felt to have that love taken away from him, and was almost positive that he couldn't stand being in that situation for much longer.

Paul could spend the night with Hanna, she could kiss him as much as she wanted to, but he knew that tomorrow, he would tell her the truth. That he never wanted her to kiss anybody else again, that he never wanted to kiss anybody else again, and that he wanted to spend every day with her, making her smile as much as he had over the few weeks during which they were 'together'. The thought made him feel warm inside; he was almost sure that she would respond in the way that he wanted her to, that she would be as much on board with the idea as he was.

He had a fleeting moment of worry, of wondering 'what if she doesn't love me back?', but that worry was overcome by the certainty that he felt upon visualising the sheer look of love and happiness in her eyes whenever they looked at one another.

She had to feel the same way about him too, right?

The more he looked at Hanna, and watched as she continued to kiss, and laugh with, and talk to Paul, the more he realised that he couldn't wait until tomorrow. No, he needed to do this tonight. He couldn't stand to be there and watch her do all of those things with somebody else, somebody that she barely knew. Paul could never know Hanna the way that he did.

He'd almost forgotten that he was there with Bri until he felt her grip tighten around his waist, and she looked up at him with wide eyes in order to ask whether or not he wanted another drink. He pressed his lips into a tight line and nodded, deciding that he could use a little extra courage before doing what he was about to do.

* * *

"You really think they were telling the truth?"

"Of course I do, look at them," Sean rolled his eyes, looking between Hanna and Paul on one side of the room, and Caleb and Bri on the other, "They're clearly not interested in each other at all," He scoffed, "I just can't believe I ever fell for it."

"Well when are you gonna talk to him?" The dark haired boy next to him asked, a smirk tugging at his lips. He was clearly excited to be included in whatever master plan Sean was about to execute.

"The word 'talk' is too polite," Sean sniggered, "But soon. I need to get him alone, or we'll get kicked out of the party. And I won't be able to do what I need to do if he leaves."

* * *

 **Things are about to take… a turn. Let's leave it there. I'm at home for Christmas now, so expect a couple of updates over the next few weeks; let me know if there are any fics, oneshots, or ficlets that you'd prefer for me to update first. Reviews are always very much appreciated, and just let me know in a review if you'd like a preview of the next chapter x**


	17. Chapter Seventeen

**I'm kinda (very) excited for this chapter; it's the beginning of what everything's been leading up to…**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter Seventeen

* * *

Caleb made a feeble attempt to steady his breathing as he pulled another paper towel from the dispenser, wiping his slightly damp forehead and palms with it before throwing the white sheet down the toilet. He was trying to convince himself that his new found clamminess was due to the fact that he'd just cut his date with Bri short, telling her that he couldn't be at the party with her anymore, at least not in _that_ way. She'd taken it reasonably well after he'd explained everything to her, but had still left with a sheen of tears in her eyes as she'd waved Bridget a quick 'goodbye' and left the party.

Whatever their cause may have been, Caleb's nerves weren't helping the situation at all; he wasn't particularly fond of the idea of doing what he was about to do with sweat dripping from his face.

He wanted the moment that he told Hanna he was in love with her to be as perfect as it could possibly be.

After taking one last look in the mirror, and nodding briefly so as to reassure himself that everything was going to be okay, he flushed the toilet and unlocked the bathroom door. He'd been in there practising exactly what he was going to say for the past fifteen minutes, and was glad to see that a queue hadn't formed outside the toilet; or at least, if one had formed, that it had already dissipated.

All that he had to do now, was walk downstairs and find Hanna.

But that was a task easier said than done when he could feel his heart pounding in his chest, and his hand trembling as he trailed it down the bannister, his feet carefully finding their way down the cream-carpeted staircase. About three steps from the bottom, Caleb felt a firm hand on his shoulder, and furrowed his brow before turning to see who exactly it belonged to; it was a tall, dark-haired boy, one that he thought he'd probably seen before, but he couldn't figure out where.

"Hey," The boy smiled, not entirely pleasantly, "You mind coming back up here for like, five minutes?"

"Who are you, exactly?" Caleb frowned, jerking the boy's hand from his shoulder with a quick shrug; he'd never liked people touching him without asking first.

"I'm Jack, sorry," He laughed, holding out his other hand for Caleb to shake, "Just assumed you knew who I was."

"I still don't know _who you are_ ," Caleb murmured, reluctantly accepting the boy's handshake, "You at Rosewood High?"

"Yeah, sure," Jack offered him, nodding in the direction of the top of the stairs, silently encouraging Caleb to go back up there, "Now you know who I am, will you give me five minutes? I swear I'll explain," He sighed, seemingly getting a little agitated, as if there was something, or someone, counting on his actions. He swallowed hard, his eyes full of something akin to nervousness.

For a split second, Caleb took pity on him; it was enough for him to turn around, and begin making his way back up the stairs.

At least now he would have another five minutes to prepare himself for Hanna.

"I don't understand what you could possibly want to talk to me about," He mused as he ambled back up the stairs, Jack following close behind, "I didn't even know your name until now. Is this some kind of prank? Am I about to be sprayed with water and covered in flour or something?"

"No flour, I swear," Came a deep voice from behind him, "Just up there, door on the left," Jack instructed, reaching past Caleb in order to point to their destination.

Caleb nodded once, reluctantly following his instructions as he strode into the room that he'd been ushered towards; it was a study, a big one, which wasn't surprising given the amount of money that Bridget's family seemed to be in possession of. Polished wooden floors, ornate drapes, and grand bookshelves furnished the room, providing the perfect backdrop for the plethora of computer equipment that adorned the top of an oversized oak desk. It was a pleasant enough room, and yet something about it made Caleb feel distinctly uneasy.

He couldn't quite figure out why that was, until the door to the study closed behind him, and he heard an all-too-familiar chuckle rippling through the musty air.

It was in that instant that he knew he'd made a grave mistake.

* * *

"So what about next weekend?" Paul murmured up against Hanna's ear, pulling her a little closer into his side as his hand ran across the small of her back, "We could stay at my place while my parents are away." The party was getting busier now; nobody was paying attention to them as they stood in a crowded corner of the living room, sipping on their drinks.

Hanna cringed a little, unable to imagine spending the weekend with Paul, feeling more than a little uncomfortable about the presence of his hand on her back. Her mind was occupied only by the image of Caleb kissing another girl, and the surge of jealousy that was continually flooding her body was so overwhelming that the mere thought of Paul touching her felt like a violation in itself.

But she couldn't be too surprised; she'd bought this upon herself.

She was the one who'd kissed Paul first, Caleb had just been following suit when he'd kissed Bri.

"You know what?" She concluded, pulling away from the blonde boy, who now had a distinctly confused look etched into his features at the sudden loss of contact, "I think I need to go."

"Go where?" Paul raised his eyebrows, "To the bathroom? Home?"

"Uh, no," Hanna cleared her throat, "Somewhere else… in here," She mumbled.

"What? Hanna you're not making any sense," He chuckled, reaching out to place his hand on her arm, gently pulling her back towards him.

Hanna exhaled shakily, "Look, I need to go and find Caleb," She swallowed, "There's something I need to tell him, I'm really sorry Paul," She smiled sadly, tugging her arm away from him, "I don't think I can be your date anymore."

Paul furrowed his brow, "You kissed me like… five minutes ago?" He laughed.

"I know," Hanna nodded, "We shouldn't have kissed, it was a mistake. I'm really sorry about this," She breathed out, before turning away and bringing her hand up to her forehead, grimacing at the slight dampness that had collected there due to the mix of stress and apprehension that she was feeling, as well as the sheer number of people bustling about in the room.

She needed to find him. She needed to tell him. It was eating her up inside.

* * *

"I should have known that you were behind this," Caleb shook his head and rolled his eyes, watching carefully as Sean made his way to the other side of the room, until he was standing a couple of feet in front of him. The instant that he'd heard his laugh vibrate through the air, he'd known exactly who he was about to be faced with. "What do you want? Did you really have to take me away from the party for this?" He sighed, completely unamused.

"Look, Caleb, I didn't bring you up here to cause trouble," Sean shrugged, a smirk on his lips so insincere that Caleb wanted to slap it away, "I just wanna talk, that's all. No big deal, if you don't want it to be."

"Really?" Caleb raised his eyebrows, clearly not believing him, "Then why are your _bodyguards_ here?" He mocked, gesturing to Jack, and another smug-looking boy who was standing on the opposite side of Sean.

Sean jutted his bottom lip out, shrugging, "I needed someone to get you up here, didn't I? You'd have never followed me," He laughed – Caleb couldn't argue with that one.

He sniggered, turning his head away from Sean, "Yeah, for good reason."

Sean took a step forward, presumably trying to intimidate Caleb. "I want to talk about you and Hanna," He voiced, sternly, assertively; it was his way of letting him know that the conversation was going to happen whether he wanted it to or not.

"Of course you do," Caleb deadpanned, "Look, leave her out of this-"

"I mean, I really can't," Sean interrupted, sucking in a sharp breath, "Kinda involves both of you," He shrugged, cockily. "A little birdie told me that this whole dating thing was an act. Any truth to that statement? Or are you really _deeply in love_ with my ex," He mocked Caleb, rolling his eyes.

"It's not an act," Caleb replied matter-of-factly, folding his arms over his chest as he lifted an eyebrow, daring Sean to challenge him.

"Liar!" Sean seethed, half taking another step forward, half stomping his foot down on the ground in a tantrum, "Don't lie to me Caleb," He warned, exhaling a deep breath through gritted teeth.

"It's not a lie," Caleb retorted, a smirk tugging at his lips; he didn't quite know why, but Sean's irrational anger was proving to be a great source of amusement for him.

"Don't you laugh at me, I've been trying to win her back, trying to get back what I had with her, and you've been feeding me this load of shit, trying to get me to believe something that wasn't even true," Sean rambled, his voice getting louder, and his face getting redder as his fist shook by his side.

"Look, it's none of your business, but-

"But nothing!" Sean screamed back at Caleb, "Hanna doesn't go for guys like you anyway, look at you. You couldn't pay a girl like Hanna to date you."

"How would you know?" Caleb raised his eyebrows, "Got some experience with paying girls to date you?"

Sean made an audible noise of discontentment, "You think you're so clever," He snarled, approaching him slowly, "I didn't want to get angry, but-"

"But you're too pig-headed to have a civil conversation?" Caleb raised his eyebrows, remaining calm, "I'm done here Sean, come back and talk to me about this when you've matured enough to realise that you don't own Hanna. She isn't yours to keep," He shrugged, shooting the blonde boy a small smile.

As he watched Sean lurch forward, he realised that the small smile may have been a mistake.

But he didn't have much time to think, because the next thing that he was conscious of was the feeling of Sean's hands pushing against his chest, and his knee hitting his stomach with full force, throwing him backwards into the side of the huge, wooden bookshelf behind him.

He knew that the jolt of pain down his right arm certainly wasn't a good thing.

He discovered that he couldn't move it as he watched Sean charge at him again, and tried without success to push him away.

Instead, Sean grabbed him by the shoulders, all but throwing him to the side, against the oversized oak desk, still covered with the computer equipment that had once looked oh so appealing to Caleb.

Suddenly, it had lost its charm.

His back hit the desk first, sending another jolt of pain soaring right through his body.

And then, a sharp, solid corner met the back of his head; not that he knew much about it.

The instant that the pointed piece of wood came into contact with his skull, Caleb's body turned limp, his eyes closing as he fell to the floor in a heap.

And then, he was still.

Silent.

Sean swallowed, Jack took a single step forward.

Caleb lay lifeless on the hard, wooden floor.

* * *

"Have you seen Caleb anywhere?" Hanna enquired, tapping Spencer on the shoulder a couple of times until she turned around, a huge smile stretching across her slightly reddened cheeks.

"What?" Spencer raised an eyebrow as she snaked a hand around Toby's waist, struggling to hear her friend over the music.

Hanna cleared her throat, "Have you seen Caleb?" She asked again, raising her voice a little.

"He went up to use the bathroom a while ago," Spencer mused, "I haven't seen him since then."

"Hm," Hanna furrowed her brow, "I guess I'll go look upstairs. Thanks," She shrugged, before turning in the direction of the stairs.

"Let me know if you still can't find him," Spencer added, grabbing Hanna's shoulder so as to get her attention before she walked off into the crowds of people.

Hanna nodded, shooting her friend a small smile of gratitude.

Her heart was beating in her chest as she trailed up the cream-carpeted stairs. She didn't know why, but something about going up there was making her feel distinctly uneasy.

Maybe it was because she'd never been up there before, she didn't know exactly where she was heading. _Yeah, t_ _hat must have been it_.

She called for him once as she reached the top of the staircase, but received nothing in reply. She tried once more, prompting a very drunk looking girl to poke her head around a door and shout 'go away!', before she slammed it back in Hanna's face.

Helpful.

There was another door, straight ahead of her, but all that could be found behind there was a store cupboard full of junk.

And he wasn't in the toilet – that door was wide open.

There was only one more door to try, directly to her left.

The instant that she opened it, poking her head around the side, she wished that she'd never gone up there in the first place.

Blood. There was a lot of blood.

And Caleb, right in the middle of it.

And a tall, dark-haired boy, who she hated without even knowing his name.

Standing there.

Doing absolutely nothing.

A sickening feeling of nausea overcame her body as she frantically reminded herself to breathe. This wasn't real. This couldn't be real.

"What the hell did you do to him?!" She yelled, her hand flying up to her mouth as she stared in disbelief at the scene before her; Caleb, laying lifelessly on the floor, a pool of blood around his head and his arm jutting out at a painfully awkward angle. It took a second for her shock to dissipate enough that her instincts could kick in – she ran over to Caleb as fast as her legs could carry her, and immediately dropped down to the floor, cradling the back of his head in one of her hands as she stroked his cheek with the other. "I said what did you do to him?!" She reiterated, tears streaming down her face as she struggled to choke out her words, her breathing ragged, and so fast that she was sure she was about to pass out.

"Dude, it wasn't me," Jack held his hands up, panicked, "It's your ex-boyfriend that you wanna be blaming for this, he just paid me to get Caleb up here," He rambled.

Sean. She should have known that he was behind this the instant that she'd seen Caleb.

"Get out!" Hanna screamed back at the boy, not even bothering to turn her attention away from Caleb, "I swear to God, get out of here now before I punch you!" She wailed, heaving, spluttering, trying desperately to make sense of what was happening, trying to figure out how it was fair that she had the blood of the man that she was in love with all over her hands, and his seemingly lifeless body laying in front of her.

"I'm calling an ambulance," Came another voice from behind her, also panicked, but inevitably more practical; Spencer. Hanna hadn't even realised that she'd followed her up there. "He'll be okay Han," She offered, coming over to crouch down beside her friend, wrapping her arm around her shoulder as Hanna sobbed into Caleb's chest, "I promise. We just need to stop the bleeding until the ambulance gets here, is there anything that we can press against the back of his head?"

Hanna let out a startling cry, so loud that she couldn't hear Jack's footsteps as he regretfully ambled out of the room.

"Hi, I need an ambulance please," Spencer rambled as the operator answered the phone, "My friend is unconscious, he has a gash on the back of his head, and he banged it, too," She informed them, trying to listen for their response over the sound of Hanna's desperate cries, "And I'm pretty sure he's broken his arm too, it's jutting out at a really awkward angle."

Hanna stopped making noise as the operator spoke to Spencer, instead sobbing silently, shaking as she clung to Caleb, burying her head in his neck as her tears merged with the blood that was smeared across his skin. Spencer reached out and grabbed a coat from the back of a chair by the desk, scrunching it up and placing it behind Caleb's head, as per the instructions of the emergency operator.

He didn't flinch as she moved him, not even a little.

Spencer was glad that Hanna couldn't see just how out of it he was; her head was still buried against him, and she'd started whimpering again, crying his name over and over as her arms enveloped him in a hug.

By the time that she looked up at his face again, Spencer was off of the phone having given them all the information that they needed, and had moved to the other side of Caleb, holding the coat in place behind his head. Hanna looked white, uncomfortably so, and her eyes were completely vacant.

She was terrified, Spencer could see it.

"They're on their way Han, they won't be long," She croaked out, "I promise. The police are coming too, for Sean."

Hanna nodded, slowly looking down at Caleb again, reaching her hand out until her palm met his cheek. It was warm, but wet; smeared with blood. She ran her thumb across his cheekbone, and then across his forehead, her eyes scanning his features for any sign of life.

There was nothing.

And then, there was Sean. Standing gormlessly in front of her, pale, sweating, looking like he wanted to say something, likely something insincere.

He just wanted to clear his name.

"I hate you, I hate you I hate you I hate you!" Hanna screamed at him the instant that her eyes met his, tears pouring down her cheeks as her face turned an angry shade of red, her words barely understandable as sobs wracked her body, "I hope you rot in hell, I hate you! Caleb is the best person I know, he- he- I wish it was you there instead of him!" She wailed, gesturing to Caleb's lifeless form, "We were supposed to be together, he was supposed to know that I'm in love with him, and, and now-"

"Get out," Spencer interrupted, sensing that Hanna was spiralling, "Get out now Sean. You've already done enough."

Her voice was calm, but stern. Sean knew that she meant what she'd said.

He knew that he needed to leave, and so he did, without so much as a single word.

Hanna's breathing was erratic again, tears flowing down her cheeks faster than ever before as she gripped Caleb's hand in her own, squeezing it so hard that her knuckles had turned white. "I, I love him Spence," She whispered, turning to her friend as she wiped her nose on the sleeve of her free hand, "Not like, not like I loved him before, I mean-"

"Hey," Spencer reassured her, "I know, you're in love with him," She nodded, "I know."

Hanna hiccupped, struggling to catch her breath again before she spoke, "I'm never gonna be able to tell him that now, am I?"

Spencer felt her heart break at her friend's words. A single tear escaped her eye as she reached for her hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. "You are, I promise," She replied simply, reassuringly. There was something about her words that comforted Hanna, even if they had no evidence behind them.

"You think he heard me before, when I was shouting?" She asked innocently, turning back to face Caleb, briefly moving her hand from Spencer's so that she could press the coat against the back of his head more securely.

"Maybe," Spencer smiled sadly, "He might have done."

"I hope not," Hanna coughed out, allowing herself a small, bitter laugh, "I want to tell him when I'm less angry. That wasn't exactly my most romantic moment."

"What's- oh my God!" Hanna and Spencer's heads both whipped around at the sound of Aria's voice as she walked into the room. "What the hell happened?!" She yelled, walking over to the other girls, "I was gonna ask you why there's an ambulance here but… I had no idea it was for Caleb…" She trailed off, swallowing hard as she took in the sight of the pool of blood around her friend's head.

"It's here?!" Hanna immediately sprang to life, standing up as best as she could without letting go of Caleb's hand, "Where is it? Where are they? Are they coming up here?"

"They've just come in through the front door, I'll let them know where you are," Aria swallowed, running back out of the room.

Within seconds, the room was filled with a crew of paramedics, rushing around, and sticking needles into Caleb's arms, and pushing masks onto his face, and asking Hanna questions that she didn't know how to answer. They moved his body onto a stretcher, and lifted him up so fast that Hanna's hand was pulled from his, and she was left sitting helplessly on the floor until Spencer helped her up.

"You want to come in the ambulance, miss?" One of the paramedics turned to ask Hanna as she followed them mindlessly out of the room and down the stairs, pushing through crowds of nosey spectators.

"Yes, I do, I do," She choked out, "Is he okay, what's happening?"

"We're trying to stabilise him right now, he's lost a lot of blood and his blood pressure's dropping," The woman answered as she held the front door open for her colleagues, who were carrying the stretcher, "We need to get him to the hospital as soon as we can… once he's stable, we'll know more about whether he has any serious injuries."

"Serious injuries? What do you mean serious injuries? He'll be fine, right? It was just a bang," Hanna rambled, her breathing becoming shallow again. She was panicking, she could feel it, but there was nothing that she could do to stop it. She needed to know that he was going to be okay.

"Head injuries can be serious," The woman sighed, empathising with Hanna, "We won't know the extent of the injury until we've done a few scans, we need to check for brain bleeds."

Hanna swallowed hard, "Brain bleeds? What? Spence, what're they talking about?" She whimpered, turning to her friend as a fresh batch of tears rolled down her cheeks. They were standing by the ambulance now; she could see Caleb's lifeless form being moved into the vehicle out of the corner of her eye. She desperately wanted, needed, to be in there with him.

"Hey hey hey, it's gonna be fine, ok," Spencer soothed, bringing Hanna back to reality with the touch of her hand on her shoulder, "Just get in and go with Caleb, he needs you right now, Han," She assured her friend.

Hanna nodded, hugging Spencer quickly before she clambered into the ambulance with the help of one of the paramedics. "Can I hold his hand now? Am I allowed to do that?" She asked desperately, unable to take her eyes off of Caleb.

"Yeah," One of the two male paramedics nodded, "But you'll have to sit at the side. We need access to him."

Hanna nodded furiously, willing to do anything that was asked of her if it meant that she could touch Caleb, or even just be close to him. The woman that had spoken to Hanna earlier patted the seat next to her, encouraging Hanna to sit there so that she could reach for his hand.

"I'll meet you at the hospital," Spencer informed Hanna from outside the ambulance, "Everything's going to be fine Han."

Hanna nodded back at her friend as the doors to the vehicle shut, and it immediately started driving off in the direction of the hospital.

The ambulance was loud. The sirens were loud. The paramedics were loud.

Hanna was terrified.

Her only solace with the feeling of Caleb's lukewarm skin against her own as she gripped on to his hand, hard.

She could feel the layer of half-dried blood sitting between their hands, a sickly reminder of their new reality.

"Oxygen sats are dropping," Came a loud voice from the other side of Caleb, "Get him on another fifteen litres through a non-rebreathe mask, and start the IV too."

"Half a litre of saline stat?"

"That's the one."

"What are you doing?" Hanna raised her voice, intimidated by the words that they were using, terrified that they were doing something to Caleb that would hurt him, even though she knew in her heart that they were doing everything they could to help him, "What does that mean?"

"Your boyfriend's lost a lot of blood, Hanna," The woman informed her, "Which means that he doesn't have enough oxygen getting around his body, and that his blood pressure is too low. We're trying as hard as we can to get them both back up to normal."

"And then he'll be okay?" She breathed out, her whole body shaking. Somebody had wrapped a blanket around her shoulders at some point; she couldn't remember when.

"For now, but we can't be sure. We need to do some scans, and some other tests, just to rule out the possibility that there could be a little bit of bleeding inside his brain," She explained.

"But you can fix that too, right?" Hanna gulped, "What'll happen if his brain's bleeding?"

"We really can't say yet, Hanna, but we'll keep you in the loop. I promise," She smiled sadly, "My name's Laura, you can ask for me anytime you like."

Hanna nodded, a little reassured, maybe, but still so incredibly overwhelmed by fear that she couldn't even muster up the courage to say thank you.

"Do you have a number for Caleb's parents that we can call? Has anybody contacted them?" Laura asked, searching Hanna's eyes for answers.

Hanna simply shook her head, smiling sadly. "He uh, no. He's not in contact with them. I'm it, I'm all he's got," She shrugged, feeling helpless.

Laura nodded in understanding and then stood, before turning to Hanna, and taking her free hand in hers. "I'm going over to talk to the other paramedics," She informed her, nodding to the other side of the ambulance, "Talk to Caleb for a second. It could help him, we don't know whether or not he can hear us right now," She smiled, nodding reassuringly at Hanna.

Hanna nodded back at her, slowly standing up before she approached Caleb, keeping her fingers tightly locked between his. "Hi," She started, her voice quiet, "I know this is dumb, and that you probably can't hear me," She sighed, "But I really need you to wake up. There are things I need to tell you, things you should know," She continued, starting to cry softly, "And I just really want to see your eyes looking at me again, and your smile, and I can't do that if… if you…" She paused, having to take a second in order to stop herself from breaking down completely, "Just please, wake up for me," She took a shaky breath in, catching a single tear at the corner of her lips as it rolled down from her cheek, "I love you."

* * *

 **Well well well, things are getting a little bit intense around here. Only two more chapters to go before the epilogue! Reviews are always appreciated, and just let me know in a review if you'd like a preview of the next chapter x**


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